The Meaning Of Trust
by SuperMikoFromTheFuture
Summary: Something is different at Sakurasou. Sorata and Ryuunosuke won't admit that they are acting unlike themselves, soon the others are investigating them and what their actions could mean. Sakurasou's trust is breaking, they need to fix it. They can't lose them! Not when they've just accepted their friendship... Rated T for strong themes of failure, depression, etc
1. Chapter 1- Something Different

**Me: HUSH HUSH!**

**Sorata: OH FOR THE LOVE OF- WHY ARE YOU STILL WRITING?! STOP!**

**Me: I'm sorry okay?!**

**Aoyama: I'll do this myself okay?!**

**Me: Are you a writer?!**

**Jin-san: I am.**

**Misaki-senpai: Don't you write scripts, Jin?**

**Jin-san: Yeah, but I don't see how I couldn't do this.**

**Me: Someone help! Jin-san is planning to take over my account!**

**Ryuunosuke: You are the one writing everything that is going on...you can change it. **

**Me: Oh yeah! Thank you! *hugs***

**Ryuunosuke: GET OFF ME! *jumps away***

**Rittan: Spider man? **

**Shiina: He's our friendly neighbourhood.**

**Ryuunosuke: I'm definitely not staying out here. *runs***

**Rittan: Wait! This is about you, so you have to stay here!**

**Me: Yeah! How do you expect to read it?!**

**Ryuunosuke: I'll hack. *is in his room***

**Disclaimer- don't make me do this...DX **

** 8**

_**Sorata Kanda- **__Akasaka, do you think that it means nothing to us?!_

_**Akasaka Ryuunosuke- **__I'm simply stating that it has nothing to do with you._

_**Akasaka Ryuunosuke- **__Or with anyone else at Sakurasou._

_**Sorata Kanda- **__Well you need to tell someone! _

_**Akasaka Ryuunosuke- **__I agree, usually nothing will get better until you're honest._

_**Sorata Kanda- **__Then why haven't you? You didn't even tell us!_

_**Akasaka Ryuunosuke- **__Actually I've already tried that, nothing has changed. So I don't dwell on pointless matters._

**~Akasaka Ryuunosuke~ has logged off.**

** 8**

_**ONE WEEK EARLIER...**_

Sorata sighed heavily and looked around his classroom in boredom.

He had no idea where anyone he knew was so all he could do was wait in a classroom for someone he knew to arrive, after what seemed like hours, Aoyama made her way into the classroom with two of her friends. She laughed at something they said before he waved his arms, "Aoyama, over here!" His helpless expression made her giggle and rush over to his desk, her friends weren't far behind, both with knowing looks on their faces. Once she was by his desk, he smiled up at her and put his hands into a praying gesture. "Thank goodness you're here, Aoyama!" Sitting at her desk, the ponytailed girl smiled at him and nodded her friends over, they both got a chair each and sat with them. After unpacking her bag, she turned her chair so that she could speak to him properly. "You sound like you've been abandoned." He chuckled and leaned back in his chair, unpacking some of his stuff also. "It's certainly felt like it for the past 10 minutes, I was with Akasaka before break but then he said that he had to make a phone call and that he would try to meet me here afterwards." An eyebrow shot up and she rested her chin on her hand, leaning on the table with her elbow and giving him a skeptical look. "Do you really think it would take this long to make a phone call?" Sorata shrugged and began feeling doubtful himself, what if he forgot to meet him here again? Or what if he was tricking him? That thought was quickly forgotten about when Ryuunosuke ambled into the currently crowded classroom, he looked up at Sorata after a moment of answering emails. "Where have you been, Akasaka?"

His answer was blunt, but it seemed practiced somehow. "Making a call."

"How long does it take to call someone?"

"The call was important and there were arguments about whether things would work out in the system, and it didn't help that I didn't get signal until I was out onto the field."

Both students nodded in understanding, all three of them sat in their seats and as the raven haired programmer was unpacking his things Aoyama noticed something different about his face. "Hey, you have a bruise just at the edge of your hairline. Are you alright?" He nodded and opened up his laptop, typing emails to a few different companies. As he did this, he took out a tomatoe and began chomping on it, after he finished his first bit he looked up at the girl in front of him. "This morning I got up and hit my head on my monitor, it was too close to my forehead apparently." Sorata blinked in surprise and turned to the resident that owned the room next to him properly, "You fell asleep at your desk?" Nodding, the tomato lover took another bite and quickly chewed it before answering. "Why do you think I had to call their company?" The two girls who he wasn't familiar with kept staring at his forehead and then down at his hands, which were typing faster and faster after every second. Then they began speaking with Aoyama again, Sorata read through his Maths textbook and found a note hidden in one of the pages. He took it out and sighed, holding the bridge of his nose in between his index finger and thumb.

_'Can we get baumkuchen?'_

He didn't even have to guess who the note was from. Getting his phone out, he brought up the contact 'Shiina Mashiro' and texted her. _'We can get baumkuchen after school.' _ After a while he got a message back basically saying that she would meet him on the roof, he asked why she wanted to meet there and she said that it was because she would never find him in a crowded place like out front. Eventually, they agreed to meet at the roof after school and go get baumkuchen with the others if they were free. At first she said that she just wanted it to be just them two, but after a bit of debate he promised her that they could do that when it wasn't a school day. It wouldn't be fair if they left the others behind after all. Aoyama turned her head to Ryuunosuke after about 10 minutes. "Wait, I didn't see any bruise this morning." He sighed, "My hair will have changed position so it's easier to see now, Ponytail." She hummed, suspicious that he was lying to them, but she couldn't be too suspicious for long because their teacher strolled in with a large and cheerful smile on her face. Ready to teach her next class the worst subject on the planet, Maths.

"Good morning class, I hope you've all brought in your Maths textbooks."

From there, she got on with the lesson and bored everyone nearly to death, Ryuunosuke didn't really listen. As he told her before, most things in the world bored him, so he didn't find any need to listen to her at all. She got frustrated with him, as always and asked him to pay attention but he refused to even answer her. "Akasaka, I'm going to tell Chihiro-sensei on you!" He shrugged, "Go ahead." Huffing, she scraped the chalk against the blackboard and carried on with her lesson, hearing the occasional bleeping of the computer, chomping from Ryuunosuke and a tiny voice which belonged to his Al. He didn't calm or stop his actions throughout the whole lesson, mostly it was because he simply found no need to. For him, class ended sooner than he expected but for the rest of them it dragged on forever. At last it was lunch and those without lunchtime detentions could roam free, Aoyama and Sorata managed to drag Ryuunosuke from the classroom to get some _real _lunch with them. He seemed rather confused by their usage of words concerning his lunch, "What do you mean by 'real lunch'?" Aoyama put her hands on her hips and gave him a look she would give Shiina when she asked Sorata to fold her panties or to iron her panties or to choose her panties. "I mean that you'll eat something other than tomatoes!"Shrugging, Ryuunosuke glanced at her out of the corner of his eye as they made their way into the canteen. "Tomatoes are the things I trust most in this world other than machines." She and Sorata facepalmed and sighed getting off of the subject.

"Anyway, what are you going to get-"

His sentence was cut off by a few boys shoving past them, "Move it, idiot!"

Their main damage was shoving Ryuunosuke into the wall, causing him to hit his arm and head off of it. Both Sorata and Aoyama were quick to ask if he was alright, he just brushed off his front and nodded. Aoyama bit her lip and looked over at the two boys, "They didn't need to call you an idiot..." Sorata huffed and glared at the boys in irritation, "They didn't need to do any of that!" Sighing, Ryuunosuke just looked at the two and told them that they shouldn't get so easily angered, they were just two rude teenagers who were obviously hungry. Eventually getting over it, the other two nodded and they all carried on with getting their lunch. Then they made their way back to the classroom and got ready for the last lessons of the day, Ryuunosuke got out his laptop and began answering emails as the two brown haired students spoke about how they were all going to go for baumkuchen after school. The hikikomori agreed to go with them as long as they were back home quickly, his want to stay inside wasn't odd so they agreed on that. After a while, class started up again and it went a per usual. When it finished they all met with Shiina, Jin-san and Misaki at the roof because apparently Akasaka had sent them an email during class which they weren't really happy with. "Ryuunosuke, couldn't you have waited until after class?" Jin-san asked as they all met up, Misaki-senpai nodded in agreement and waited for their friend to give him a response. Soon he just messed around with his device, answering them at the same time. "If I had you two may have already made plans, besides, I wasn't informed about it until the beginning of class." They forgave him and started blaming Sorata for the delayed news. He jumped back in surprise and began whining, and telling them how it was Shiina's fault for leaving the note in the book he obviously wouldn't need until before lunch. Jin-san decided to mess with him a bit by arguing back, telling him that he had said that Ryuunosuke wasn't notified this until before class. He was silent at that point. Jin-san found it very amusing.

"Oi, Dragon! Where did that bruise come from?"

Everyone looked up at his forehead and Sorata told her about the incident with his moniter, she laughed and called him a clumsy dragon. Jin-san chuckled and teased him slightly about it also, the shut-in just glared at them holding his bag tighter so that it wouldn't fall from his grasp. "Why were you sleeping at your desk anyway?" Turning to the older boy, Ryuunosuke gave him the usual empty look as he spoke to him, it gave him the chills to have his blank eyes looking directly into his. Scary. "I was working on a project and became tired, I'm only human." Sorata then nodded in his direction, "That's why he had to phone a company, deserting me." His coal black hair falling over his shoulder, the programmer spun back to the game designer and his empty eyes had the same effect on him when they looked into his own eyes. "It's work, Kanda." Aoyama giggled and tucked some hair behind her ear, "He looked so bored when I found him." Ryuunosuke looked away and shrugged, "Sorry, but work is work." Sorata chuckled and shook his head, telling him that it was ok and that it wasn't all that torturous because he got some time to study and to work some things out. Once everything was sorted, they made their way to the convenience store to buy some baumkuchen or whatever they really wanted.

Once they got to the small rows of stalls, they spotted some kids causing trouble for the butcher, who also happened to be quite a close friend to Sorata. They went over to help, Ryuunosuke saying that he had to make yet another call to the company from this morning because he wanted to discuss something they talked about earlier that week, went somewhere else at the side of another stall slightly further away. Sorata ran up to the boys and told them to get lost, they put up their fists in a fighting stance, but then Jin-san stood in front of him and crossed his arms. The two boys froze, he smirked. "I suggest you leave now, because it won't be him you'll be dealing with." Spitting at him, both boys rushed away and Jin-san rolled his eyes at the saliva covering the floor. He then asked if the butcher was ok and she nodded thanking them all, when they were speaking to her and asking whether she had this problem often Ryuunosuke came back and apologised for the sudden departure, asking if she was alright also. Some minutes later, they all decided to leave for the convenience store so there would be less of a chance that they would run into those boys again. After they bought a baumkuchen for Aoyama and Shiina, a tomato for Ryuunosuke, pocky for Misaki-senpai and mochi's for Sorata and Jin-san, they all made their way home with no troubles...except for when they were heckled by the two guys again. This time it was differen't however.

"Oi, Akasaka! These loonies are _your_ friends?!"

The boy in question refused to answer them, he just kept walking with the others until they started to approach him. "I asked a question, loner! Answer it!" They were about 4 metres away from him when Sorata and Jin-san stepped in front of him, this just made it worse for them. Jin-san knew that he couldn't hit two young teens and Sorata wasn't the best one for a fight, one of the boys tried to hit Sorata but Jin-san grabbed his fist tightly cracking some of his fingers. Both boys jumped away and tended to his _wounded hand_, Sorata thanked him and then turned to the others. "Are you all ok?" Once he had made sure that none of them were hurt, he spun his head to see the boys both being held by their collars by Jin-san. He was glaring at them both, angry that he couldn't do anything else. "If you don't stay away from us, there'll be hell on." Then he shoved them away so that they ran and threatened them all, but it didn't scare them one bit knowing that they had Jin-san on their side. Sorata was questioning Ryuunosuke about them, why they knew him and if he had been hurt by them before. Aoyama told him that she recognised them from the canteen that day, this made him even more suspicious because he remembered them specifically mocking _him_ and hurting _him_ most. Sighing, the professional programmer looked at them blankly. "I think they came from my middle school, they weren't the people you wanted to be around back then either. They might recognise me, I don't know."

"Are you sure? They haven't hurt you before? Other than in the canteen today."

"I can't remember them hurting me in middle school, and they haven't hurt me now."

Sorata nodded and smiled, then everyone made their way back to Sakurasou in a comfortable silence. As soon as they got back they had a stew for tea, that was the only reason the maroon eyed boy stayed out of his room, other than the fact Shiina said that she had some news to tell which was rather odd. During dinner, Sorata turned to Shiina and everyone quietened down. "Shiina? What was your news?" She blinked and then looked around at everyone before turning back to Sorata, "Rita is coming to Japan soon." He grinned and then everyone but Ryuunosuke was cheering and getting all excited for her visit, Shiina then stood and ambled around to where he was sitting to stand in front of him. "Also, she told me to tell you she misses you and to do this." Before he had time to think, she leaned down and hugged him lightly terrifying the young man thoroughly. He pushed her gently away by her shoulders, "Don't touch me. I get it." She nodded, "That was her request." Blushing slightly, he nodded and crossed his arms. Getting the hint, she sat back down in her seat and enjoyed her dinner. Everyone teased the 16 year old about his reaction for a while, but then they began talking about preparations. Where she would sleep, who would pick her up, etc.

Jin-san smirked, "Maybe she could sleep in Ryuunosuke's room."

"Never! I hate women, I'll never let any get near me."

"Oh yeah, you've sure done a good job with that so far." He said sarcastically.

His face warmed up again but he just huffed and looked away, the others smiled-with the acception of Shiina- and decided that she would either sleep in Aoyama's or Shiina's room.

Jin-san smiled again, "Or Ryuunosuke's."

"No, shut up."

He snickered and nodded, agreeing with the other idea of setting up a futon in one of their rooms. Most likely it would be Aoyama's room, considering the state that Shiina's bedroom floor was in. The brunette didn't have a problem with doing that, she also offered to pick her up but Sorata and Shiina said that they would. As soon as the conversation was over, the hikikomori left for his room to email a certain Freeloader and some companies. The others eventually left for their rooms as well, to get some sleep. Before Sorata got into his bedroom, Shiina grabbed his hand and stopped him outside his door. He looked at her in confusion before turning around, "Shiina? What's wrong?" She blushed slightly seeming to doubt herself before letting go of his hand, "Nothing." He nodded suspiciously but smiled down at her, "Goodnight, Shiina."

"Mashiro when we're alone."

"U-Uh..yeah, Mashiro. Goodnight Mashiro."

She smiled, "Goodnight Sorata."

**Me: FIRST CHAPPIEE!**

**Aoyama: Why the random romance?**

**Me: *sobs* People won't JUST want Rita X Ryuunosuke, so I need more couples...not that I don't ship them myself!**

**Ryuunosuke: The first 'shipping' does NOT exist!**

**Me: DON'T SAY THAT! *cries* MY FEELINGS!**

**Misaki-senpai: *hugs me* POOR MIKON!**

**Me: Really...?**

**Jin-san: Who do you 'ship'?**

**Me: Misaki X Jin, Sorata X Mashiro, Aoyama X Miyohara and my OTP...Rita X Ryuunosuke!**

**Ryuunosuke: IT DOESN'T EXIST!**

**Me: IT DOES! RIGHT RITA?**

**Rita: *blushes but grins* It will soon enough!**

**Ryuunosuke: WHAT?!**

**Rita: Stop running, Ryuunosuke. It's inevitable.**

**Sorata: He's gonna faint again with all this...**

**Me: WOMEN!**

**Ryuunosuke: *faints***

**Everyone else: ...**

**Sorata: WHY DID YOU DO THAT?! **

**Shiina: ...Plan C?**

**Sorata: NO CUTTING!**


	2. Chapter 2- Suspicions and Failure

**Me: DAYS OF DASH!**

**Sorata: What are you doing?**

**Me: Singing!**

**Sorata: Really?!**

**Me: *LE GASP* Hurtful!**

**Rita-san: Come on, Kanda! Be nice!**

**Ryuunosuke: Was that **_**actually**_** singing?**

**Rita-san: Ryuunosuke, be nice!**

**Me: I was only singing in excitement, not seriously! **

**Jin-san: Thank the heavens...**

**Misaki-senpai: Jin, my ears hurt.**

**Shiina: Sing?**

**Aoyama: Yeah, you DO know what singing is right?**

**Shiina: *nods* Days of dash...**

**Me: *grins* YEAH! DAYS OF DASH! KAZE O HASHIRINUKETE**

**KIMI TOBOKU NO NAKA DE NANI GA HAJIMATTA NO DAROU **

**WAKARANAI KEDO!**

**Shiina: I like that song.**

**Me: ME TOO!**

**Ryuunosuke: It's not a bad song just bad vocals.**

**Rita-san: Ryuunosuke! **

**Me: I wasn't singing it **_**seriously **_**Rittan! *giggles***

**Sorata: Just get on with it...**

**Me: Fine! *types***

** 8**

_**Sorata Kanda- **__Why are you doing this?!_

_**Akasaka Ryuunosuke- **__It's for the good of everyone at Sakurasou._

_**Akasaka Ryuunosuke- **__Don't take it personally._

_**Sorata Kanda- **__Is it to do with the conversation we had yesterday?_

_**Akasaka Ryuunosuke- **__I have my own reasons._

_**Sorata Kanda- **__Akasaka, you won't survive if you go on like this forever!_

_**Akasaka Ryuunosuke- **__Concentrate on your own problems, Kanda._

**~Akasaka Ryuunosuke~ has logged off.**

** 8**

_**TWO DAYS EARLIER...**_

The next morning, Sorata and Aoyama were the first people to get up in Sakurasou.

When they saw each other in the kitchen they were slightly surprised at first, but then they just casually made breakfast for everyone. It was silent for a few minutes before they broke out of their sleepy states, Sorata turned around to set the table, smiling up at his friend. "Good morning, Aoyama." She turned from the chopping board in surprise and chuckled, "Good morning, Kanda-kun. Did you sleep well?" He yawned and nodded slowly, asking her the same thing, she laughed nervously and admitted to reading shoujo manga until 2 in the morning. Lecturing her for about a minute, he noticed that she looked like she was deep in thought, and by her facial expression they didn't look like good thoughts either. "Aoyama?" She jumped out of her revere and apologised, when he asked her what was wrong she just sighed and finished up the breakfast, sitting at the table. "Yesterday, Mayu said that she didn't think Akasaka-kun's bruise was from a monitor." The older boy blinked in confusion, he didn't seem to get what she was implying, but she didn't have a problem with explaining it. "She thinks someone did that to him." He didn't understand. Resting his elbow on the table, he propped his chin up with his hand and kept giving her the same oblivious look. "Why would anyone want to hurt him?" She shrugged, "Then again, she does think things through way too much. I'm just worried that she's right, he could have hit his head, or he could be lying."

"Aoyama, if I know Akasaka, I know he wouldn't lie to anyone. He's all about honesty and logic and..." She didn't seem very convinced, he sighed fondly and smiled weakly at her. "He is human, even he makes mistakes sometimes. It's most likely that he **did **hurt himself." When she thought of the hikikomori she did not think of him as being clumsy, but in the morning you usually are tired, even he was tired when they worked on Nyaboron. This cleared her conscience a little bit, just being reminded that he **was** human no matter how smart or mature he tried to act, and he was still just 16 year old. "You're probably right, it's just she said it so seriously..and she is never serious. I guess she was just concerned, I'm okay now!" He smiled and nodded, thankful that she wasn't as worried as she was before. Just as they finished their conversation Shiina made her way into the room, with only a half buttoned shirt and panties on. Both teenagers screeched when they took in her appearence, equally as horrified. "M-Mashiro?!" "S-Shiina?!" She looked at them with tired eyes and slumped body language, then she yawned and rubbed her eye with her hand. "Morning..."

Sorata ran up to her and pushed her back upstairs and into her room, picking out her uniform and telling her to get changed, she did and he did her hair as usual. Once they were both ready, he told her to eat some breakfast, grabbing some for himself. Aoyama was already halfway through her first bowl of rice, she grinned up at them greedily and he smiled. The blonde soon sat next to them both and ate her own, it was a while until the others decided that it was time to get up. First it was Misaki-senpai, bounding into the room with her usual gusto and enthusiasm. She yelled out her greetings before announcing that she officially had the best underwear on, then she vividly described them, traumatizing everyone but Shiina. This of course woke Jin-san and Ryuunosuke up, both looking irritated and sleepy. Jin-san stumbling everywhere and Ryuunosuke with extremely dark bags under his eyes, he wiped them and winced as he looked up at the light. Aoyama asked how his bruise was and he nodded, telling her it felt much better. Misaki-senpai then began gulping down her breakfast, leaving the two boys to amuse themselves until she was finished taking most of it. At last they all got their food, and eventually it was time to leave for school. Sorata offered to carry Ryuunosuke because he seemed to almost fall at the door, he declined the offer, telling him that he was just tired and that his body ached a bit from the lack of sleep.

"Akasaka, you really don't look so good. I'll be careful, are you sure you don't want me to carry you?"

"There's...There is no need to do that, K-Kanda."

His breaths seemed more ragged and forced than before, and it was worrying them all. How long was he up last night anyway? Misaki-senpai seemed to read his mind, because moments after that thought, she asked him that question. His answer was delayed due to his struggle to even talk, but eventually he managed to say something. "My boss...for a project asked me to..f-finish something off, but it took..a bit longer than-than expected." Sorata bent to his eye level and told him that he was going to carry him, and with no strength left to answer, Ryuunosuke just went along with it. 5 minutes later the programmer fell asleep on his back and Sorata smiled through his worry, Shiina looked at him and noticed that his bags weren't fading at all. She mentioned this to Jin-san and he told her not to worry, because they would fade soon enough. Misaki-senpai marched towards the school and yelled out a battle cry when she got to the gates, as if she was heading into a battle. Jin-san bid them a farewell before rushing after her to keep her in line, the chestnut haired 17 year old regretfully muttered for his friend to wake up. Mumbling something incoherent, Ryuunosuke groaned and rubbed his eyes, Aoyama giggled and passed him his bags. Taking them, he nodded to her gratefully and let himself down. He seemed more balanced than he was before, and they were glad. However, they still had to watch him carefully. Soon he was walking normally and his bags had actually faded slightly, Shiina was pleased with this, when they got into school they watched sadly as Ryuunosuke left them to sit in their homeroom classroom.

Aoyama sighed and broke the silence, "I've never seen him like that before."

Sorata nodded in agreement, "Me neither, but-"

Before he could finish his sentence he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket, alerting him that he had recieved a new text. Taking out his phone, he read the text slowly and with every word he read his expressioin darkened. The two girls beside him cautiously watched as he typed a reply, after a while the bell rang and in silence they all headed into school. Shiina tried talking to him first but he just gave her a short answer, basically telling her that she should mind her own business. Aoyama then tried but he just told her that it was nothing, this offended Shiina who stormed off to their homeroom classroom. The brunette soon followed her, knowing how much trouble she could get into if nobody was there to watch her. Angrily, Sorata clenched his fists and tried to calm himself down before making his way into the school. He never got to have his way. Nothing ever went right for him.

Life was so unfair.

At lunch, nobody from Sakurasou had heard or seen Ryuunosuke at all.

Aoyama asked the teachers they had last if they had seen him, every one of them shook their heads which worried them even more. They spent every moment of lunchtime looking for him, eating every once in a while. Misaki-senpai rushed to ask every pupil she could about his disappearance, they either said that they didn't know him or that they weren't aware he had gone missing. It was only when Jin-san stopped her in the hallway that she calmed down, as she ran down one of the windowless spaces, the older boy grabbed her arm and stopped her in place. "Have you seen him yet?" She turned around and shook her head, asking him the same thing, he came up empty handed. Texting the raven haired boy for the third time, he sat down on the ground and took out a sandwich. Misaki-senpai soon joined him, taking out an apple as well. "Do you think he's eaten?" She felt his shoulders shrug and his chest heave in a large sigh, "Knowing him, probably not. Otherwise he's only eaten tomatoes." Giggling, she nodded in agreement, remembering what he liked to say about the fruits. Then she thought about not hearing them again, yes, she was over reacting but to her he could be dead. That's only what Misaki-senpai was thinking though, everyone else was worried about his lack of food or if he was angry.

"He'll be okay, Misaki."

Turning her head towards him, Misaki-senpai bit into her apple and nodded slightly. Still worrying about her friend more than she should, he sensed this and sighed wrapping an arm around her shoulders. Her cheeks turned pink and she rested her head on his shoulder, soon he spoke again. This time asking her if she remembered Nyaboron, she nodded and grinned instantly, memories of the event flashing in her mind. "Everyone was so happy, and we had just met Rittan too." He nodded curtly, and then returned to silence for a few moments before he smirked, "Even Ryuunosuke seemed happy." Placing the remains of her apple into her lunchbox, the brown haired girl turned to him, his arm still around her. "You don't think he's dead do you?" Almost immidiately, Jin-san chuckled and tightened his hold on her shaking his head. "Does your mind always think of such unrealistic situations?" She nodded and fisted her hands passionately, "You must always think outside the box, Jin! Or else you will never succeed in life!"

And she was back to her usual self.

_**BLEEP! BLEEP!**_

Getting out his phone, he read the message sent by Sorata, telling the two of them to meet them out in the field. Once he had sent a reply, he told Misaki-senpai the news and she jumped up rushing down the corridoor in pure delight. Jin-san knew that they hadn't found him, but he let her be happy for a few moments, he let her just be herself...

...because that was the Misaki he loved more than anything.

** 8**

As he spotted the two older teens come out from the entrance, Sorata sighed in disappointment and watched Shiina look behind bushes and under lunch tables for Ryuunosuke. Aoyama and he locked gazes for a moment before nodding, they both made their way over to the blonde haired girl and told her to stop looking. She didn't seem to listen to either of them, still hoping to find him behind a tree or in a...plant pot. Neither of them knw whether she was still being serious or whether she was just messing around anymore, even so, they needed to talk with everyone at once. Placing a hand on her shoulder, Aoyama asked her if they could talk to her, she shook her head. "We need to find Ryuunosuke." They were her only words as she walked off further onto the field, so everyone decided to have a small chat about it. When they were all together Jin-san could see the way Misaki-senpai's face fell, so he checked his phone for any messages from the young boy, nothing.

Sorata sighed, "Any luck at all?"

Jin-san shook his head and checked through to get Rita's number, then he called her. As the phone rang he wondered if she was on the plane to Japan, probably not. Seeing as though she was still very busy with her painting, but she seemed to have enough time to talk to them.

_"Hello? Jin?"_

"Ah! Rita-san, do you happen to know where Ryuunosuke likes to go at school?"

_"I'm sorry, I don't understand what you mean."_

"Do you know of any specific places he likes to go on the school premisis?"

_"Hm...the roof, the IT classroom and...that's all I know."_

He quickly looked at the others to ask if they had seen him there but they all shook their heads, once again he sighed heavily and nodded.

"Thank you, Rita-san."

_"Sure..hey, what's wrong?"_

"We're currently searching for him, for some reason none of the teachers have seen him and we can't seem to find him either."

_"Really?! Can you keep me on the phone until you've found him?"_

"Sure, that might be a while though..."

Her voice seemed worried and earnest, _"If you want me to I'll pay back the money because of this call? Or I can call you back?"_

"No need to, it's okay."

_"Thank you."_

He smiled, "No problem, we'll shout when we've found him."

She hummed in response and went silent, and soon they heard fast typing from the other side of the line. When they asked what she was doing, she said that she was just emailing him. Aoyama gave the phone a sympathetic look obviously meant for the british woman, then she smiled weakly. "She really cares about him, huh?" The others nodded in agreement and looked around the area, Shiina was still looking for him. It broke Sorata's heart to see her looking behind more trees, some trees were the ones she had checked beforehand. Making his way over to her, he tapped her shoulder, she spun round giving him a more annoyed look than usual. "What?" He blinked before sighing, "Shiina, we're going to talk about more ways of finding him with Rita-san. So, stop looking for now." Reluctantly nodding, she hung her head and followed him back to where the others were standing. Then saw that he was texting the programmer by peering over his shoulder, she frowned and checked her phone for some reason. Feeling like it would be of some importance, but soon they all heard Sorata make some sort of happy sigh. Then he turned to them all and smiled, "He's answered my text." They all then gathered around his phone and looked to what he had put.

_**Sorata Kanda-**__Ryuunosuke?! Are you still in school?!_

_**Akasaka Ryuunosuke- **__Yes._

Soon, Jin-san's phone vibrated and Rita said that she had gotten a reply from him also. They all checked his phone.

_**Mitaka Jin- **__Hey Ryuunosuke, where did you go?_

_**Akasaka Ryuunosuke- **__I was needed outside of school for a meeting._

_**Akasaka Ryuunosuke- **__The school allowed me to leave._

_**Akasaka Ryuunosuke- **__I'll be back soon._

They all smiled and sighed, and when Sorata looked up he saw the raven haired programmer making his way into the building. He took off in a sprint and once everyone else realised what was happening, they followed suit. Before their friend could get into school, they surrounded him, giving him a heart attack in the process. Looking at all of them, Ryuunosuke tried to keep his cool but it just wasn't working. "Could one person speak at one time?!" They all went silent and soon Rita's voice screeched from Jin-san's phone, once again, giving him a heart attack.

_"Ryuunosuke! Are you okay?"_

Glaring at the phone, he crossed his arms and sighed wondering why they would even bother calling the Former Freeloader. "I'm fine, Freeloader. Why are you all so worked up?" Shiina stood in front of him and looked him in the eye, causing him to take a step backwards. Then she took Jin-san's phone and passed it to him, he just shook his head and took a step back. Sorata looked at him sadly, "We were all worried about you, Akasaka." Misaki-senpai nodded and clasped her hands together facing him properly, "Yeah! We looked for you all lunch!" The usual blank expression was replaced with one of surprise, but as usual, his defensive side won. Huffing, he just looked away, the smallest sprinkle of pink on his cheeks. "There was no need to do that, you people need as much energy as you can get." Jin-san chuckled and shook his head fondly, knowing exactly what he meant by that statement. "Somehow I feel like that is an insult." Rita giggled and agreed with him, everyone else then joined in laughing, making Ryuunosuke uncomfortable. Soon he just turned his head away, not looking at them for fear of it becoming more awkward for him. However, he didn't see Jin-san place the phone right next to his ear.

_"I miss you, Ryuunosuke."_

As soon as he heard that, he jumped and looked at the phone in surprise, not expecting her voice to be right next to his ear. The phone was soon forced into his hands, so he took her off speaker and held the phone up to his ear. Whilst he was talking to her, the others took out the rest of their lunch to eat. No more than 5 minutes later Ryuunosuke was having a panic attack, most likely because of Rita. "Freeloader! Shut up and answer my question!" Sorata chuckled and drank some water from his water bottle before looking over at Shiina who was staring at him, "Shiina? Is something wrong?" She shook her head and looked at his water, as if she wanted it. He noticed and sighed, "Do you need a drink?" Nodding, she looked up at him and then back down at the water. After wiping the bottle top, he passed it to her, she gulped down some water and thanked him.

"FREELOADER!"

Even from their distance they could hear her evil laughter...

"Fine, just..I'll tell Kanda and Shiina. Goodbye."

_"Bye! I love you!"_

Once again, the others heard and only Jin-san, Misaki-senpai and Shiina didn't blush and die from embarrassment from hearing it. However, they all felt slightly sorry for the programmer even more because his face was bright red and he just hung up the phone, sighing heavily. Soon they all heard the bell ring and decided to drag themselves to their classrooms, but Aoyama didn't look too happy...

...Sorata noticed it to...

...Ryuunosuke had a new bruise.

8

**Misaki-senpai: OOOOOOOOO! A cliffhanger! **

**Me: Yes senpai...**

**Sorata: It's kind of a scary cliffhanger, Miko-san...**

**Me: It was supposed to be! How dare you question me!**

**Sorata: I didn't question you...**

**Me: DON'T CORRECT ME!**

**Sorata: *hides behind Shiina***

**Shiina:...**

**Sorata: Help me!**

**Shiina: Plan C?**

**Sorata: NO!**

**Ryuunosuke: *sighs* I know where this story is heading...**

**Me: Shhhh! Ryuunosuke, hush!**

**Rita-san: Yeah, don't ruin it for them.**

**Ryuunosuke: Why me?**

**Me: 'Cuz you're my favourite character!**

**Everyone else: *heartbroken***

**Me: Oh yeah...you're still here...hehe...**

**Ryuunosuke: You enjoy torturing your favourite characters?**

**Me: Maybe...**

**Jin-san: I would run now.**

**Ryuunosuke: *hides in his room***


	3. Chapter 3- Confrontation

**Me: Welcome to the THIRD chapter! *sobs***

**Sorata: Why are you crying?**

**Me: Time is going so fast! I'll finish this story soon enough! *cries***

**Ryuunosuke: It **_**is**_** your story, so you don't have to end it.**

**Rita: Ah! Ah! Ah! Ryuunosuke, every story has it's ending.**

**Aoyama: That's kind of depressing...Rita-san.**

**Me: All stories have endings...so do lives.**

**Jin-san: Um..Ryuunosuke?**

**Ryuunosuke: What?**

**Jin-san: Do you remember what she said in the last chapter?**

**Ryuunosuke: No, I don't-*realisation* Oh.**

**Me: What is it? *creepy smile***

**Shiina: You look evil.**

**Sorata: Shiina?!**

**Aoyama: Don't say that or she'll kill us!**

**Me: I do? Perfect...**

**Ryuunosuke: *sighs* I still don't understand why you keep writing me out of my room...just to put me in again. *goes in room* See?**

**Misaki-senpai: M-Mikon? Please don't kill Dragon.**

**Me: Why would I kill him? **

**Rita: You're...kind of scaring me...**

**Me: Welll...I just ioqnie andjnfiu4 why is iworbg3r my orugibg beingigirugb altered?niqujifr! RYUUggibubgNOSUKE!**

**Ryuunosuke: Shut up. I'm hacking.**

** 8**

_**Mitaka Jin- **__Ryuunosuke, you haven't been out of your room in days._

_**Akasaka Ryuunosuke- **__I'm fine, over time I have adapted to this environment._

_**Akasaka Ryuunosuke- **__It's actually quite relaxing._

_**Mitaka Jin- **__Who found out first?_

_**Akasaka Ryuunosuke- **__Does that really matter?_

_**Mitaka Jin- **__Yes._

_**Akasaka Ryuunosuke- **__It isn't essential or absolutely crucial._

_**Akasaka Ryuunosuke- **__Therefore, it doesn't matter._

_**Akasaka Ryuunosuke- **__Aoyama._

**~Akasaka Ryuunosuke~ has logged off. **

** 8**

_**FOUR DAYS EARLIER...**_

When they all finally got home from school, Misaki-senpai announced that they were going to have hotpot and Sorata began cooking it. Of course he asked why, she just said that it was the soul of food and the heart of passion and 'Rittan' was coming that night...basically there was no actual reason.

"Akasaka-kun?"

"What is it, Ponytail?"

"...Nothing."

Peering his maroon coloured eyes over at her suspiciously, Ryuunosuke drank some of his tea and sighed. "If you have something to say, say it." She shook her head, then looked over at Sorata who was already giving her a knowing look. They both knew what they wanted to ask, but they were afraid to, afraid of what the answer might be. Soon the programmer was too interested in his emails to concentrate on their worried expressions, but Jin-san and Misaki-senpai noticed it and the slightly ditzy girl had no problem asking why. "Kouhai-kun! Nanamin! Why do you look so upset?" This caught most people's attention, of course Ryuunouske didn't seemed concerned or fazed by this fact. His expression stayed blank as he casually gave Maid-chan more commands, one was to email Rita-san to ask of her whereabouts. Soon he got a message back, his AI read it out in a slightly more aggressive tone. "She will be here very soon, and she will message when she arrives at the airport." He nodded and carried on with his emails and whatever he did for work, Sorata curtly and subtley nodded to Aoyama and she took a deep breath. "W-Where did you get that bruise?" He stopped working for a moment before he carried on, of course he answered her for he wasn't that rude. "Where do you mean, Ponytail?" She pointed to her own chin, close to being hidden by his curtain of hair. For a moment he kept working, but then he turned his phone off and used it as a mirror to check where she had pointed. She was right. There was a dark purple and serious looking bruise marking his chin and partway down his neck, his expression didn't change but he seemed to get an annoyed glint in his eyes.

He stayed silent.

"Akasaka-kun? Do you know how you got it?"

After a moment he hummed, "I'm not quite sure how this happened...no events today could have caused it."

Placing his phone down, he prodded at it slightly and winced in pain. Then he crossed his arms and looked down at his feet, as if deep in thought. Most likely wondering how he could explain this bruise, unsure of where he got it from, hopefully. "Maybe, I already had it-" Sorata shook his head from where he was making dinner, "Nope, I didn't notice anything this morning." The raven haired boy shrugged helplessly, picking up his phone and searching anything that could explain it. Shiina stared at him and a spark of realisation crossed her facial features as she pointed at his eyes, "His bags haven't faded very much, Jin-san." The oldest male blinked in surprise and then noticed it too, nodding his head in agreement. She asked him if that was normal, but he was very unsure they were just bags. "Ryuunosuke, how do you feel compared to this morning?"

"Better, why?"

Narrowing his eyes, Jin-san straightened his glasses. "You still look quite tired."

Not even bothering to look up at him, he answered. "What do you mean?"

"Your eyes are still dark, that should only last for a few hours."

"I rarely sleep, Mitaka-senpai."

"I've never seen you with bags this dark before, Ryuunosuke."

There was no reply from the others side of the table.

The tension was so thick you could cut through it with a blunt blade, and Ryuunosuke wasn't making it any better for himself. Not answering a question such as that is not only suspicious, but it basically half confirms their suspicions. As he worked, he felt every pair of eyes in the room drilling holes into his head. Expecting him to answer and unasked question, but he knew exactly what they wanted to ask. "Who are those boys, Akasaka-kun?" She asked it so kindly that he faltered for a moment before going with his original answer, "I don't know, they may be from my middle school but I am unsure-"

"Don't lie, Akasaka. It doesn't suit your personality."

His expression didn't change but the tone of his voice did, "Excuse me?" He sounded not only offended but angry, why he was angry they didn't know..but they could guess. Sorata turned around fully to look him in the eye, then he crossed his arms and leaned back against the cupboards underneath him. "You shouldn't lie, because you never lie." Everyone looked back and forth between the two boys, it was concerning them about how Sorata was talking to Ryuunosuke and how the hikikomori was reacting. He continued, his voice still having the same sharpness in it. "Everything you say is the truth, whether we like it or not. You tell us everything honestly, and you say it so bluntly that we can't help but believe you." Not paying much attention to the information he was being given, the younger male simply typed more emails on his laptop, which he had gotten from his room whilst Misaki-senpai demanded hotpot. "I feel like there is an insult hidden there somewhere."

"Akasaka!"

"What do you want me to say, Kanda?"

Clenching his fists, Sorata glared at him. "The truth."

"I'm okay."

"Stop lying!" Then he slammed his fist against the table, surprising the other members of Sakurasou. Only Ryuunosuke had been expecting his fury, so he didn't seem fazed by it. He only looked up at him, looking bored and irritated. "Deal with your **own** problems, Kanda." Nobody had been expecting that answer. Not even Sorata. He just stared at him with wide eyes and a pale face, how did he know? Was he hacking again? Aoyama looked at them both with worried eyes and quickly intervened, "L-Look, can we just have a calm conversation about the topic? There's no need to get angry." Getting ready to stand up, Ryuunosuke sighed and closed his laptop lid looking more annoyed and fed up than ever. "I don't even know why I'm still out here, I have important work to do. Save some dinner for me, no onions or mushrooms. Thank you." Just as he was about to walk away, Sorata grabbed his wrist and stopped him. Since the younger one didn't appreciate physical contact, he tried to yank his hand out of his grip, but he wasn't going to let go easily. "Kanda, get off me." Grabbing his wrist with both hands now, Sorata pulled him towards the group. "Akasaka, tell the truth."

Silence.

Silence.

"What are you trying to accuse me of?"

The programmers facial expression had finally changed into one of impatience and he clenched his fist in vexation, his tone of voice matched his expression and it began concerning the others, because he never really got angry at anyone. Only Rita had seen him mildly annoyed, but now he looking as if he was a bomb ready to explode. After a few moments of silence, the chestnut haired boy narrowed his eyes. "Those bruises didn't come from your moniter, were they Akasaka?" He was silent. "Answer me! Where were they from?!" The aura around them darkened and the anger was boiling inside of Ryuunosuke, but he wasn't going to let it show. He wasn't going to lash out at anyone, because violence was never the answer to anything. "Those boys..." Aoyama's voice chimed out from the table, she looked horrified and realisation was written all over her face. Sorata became even more worried about his friend as one of his hands went to the front of his uniform, grabbing the front of it angrily, Ryuunosuke's own hands roughly shoved him away and onto the ground. Everyone stared in shock as Sorata sat up, looking at the furious boy startled. All they heard was the door slam shut, and slowly all eyes darting towards the sound to see the british woman they were expecting today. However, they did not expect to see her there..that soon...right in the wrong moment.

Rita was staring at them in horror.

** 8**

**Me: DONE!**

**Sorata: It's pretty short...**

**Me: Yeah...sorry about that.**

**Ryuunosuke: Why am I so violent in this chapter?**

**Rita: It's not really like him...and she got that right, if you were so violent then I WOULD be horrified. **

**Me: It was necessary for the story to progress!**

**Ryuunosuke: I swear...you people...!**

**Misaki-senpai: HOT POT! YUMMY!**

**Jin-san: *sighs***

**Aoyama: *sweatdrops***

**Shiina: *confuzzled***

**Sorata: Of course only Misaki-senpai would focus on the food instead of the drama.**

**Shiina: *throws fist in the air* Hot pot!**

**Misaki-senpai: GOOD MASHIRON! Now, let's go on a journey to find the best hot pot in the world!**

**Shiina: *nods***

**Sorata: Shiina?! Misaki-senpai?! No!**

**Jin-san: I'm afraid that you need to stay here, don't you want to finish the story?**

**Misaki-senpai: B-B-But Jiiiiiin! HOT POT awaits us!**

**Rita: *giggles* Hot pot IS rather tasty...**

**Ryuunosuke: F-Freeloader! Don't encourage them!**

**Rita: Aww! Do you want me to stay with youu?! *hugs***

**Ryuunosuke: NO! *runs into his room* **

**Rita & Me: Aww... =C**


	4. Chapter 4- Bullying?

**Me: Getting close to one of the beginning paragraph moments! Oooo!**

**Ryuunosuke: *shouts from room* Is she gone yet?!**

**Me: In the story?! She's just arrived!**

**Ryuunosuke: No, I mean now!**

**Me: Yes.**

**Ryuunosuke: *sighs in relief and steps out of his room only to be tackled by Rita***

**Rita: Yay! Thank you, Miko!**

**Me: *giggles***

**Ryuunosuke: TRAITOR!**

**Me: *shrugs* You guys are my OTP.**

**Sorata: *smiles* You DO love her, Akasaka.**

**Misaki-senpai: Yeah! Rittan and the Dragon!**

**Shiina: Yay.**

**Aoyama: You could sound a bit more excited about it, Mashiro...**

**Shiina: Yay!**

**Jin-san: Yeah, Ryuunosuke...You DOOO love her don't you? *smirks***

**Ryuunosuke: *blushes* M-Miko! I am not blushing!**

**Rita: Yeah you are! So adorable! *hugs him tighter***

**Ryuunosuke: F-Freeloader! Let me go! **

**Rita: Nope! **

**Me: YAY!**

**Misaki-senpai & Shiina: MEATBALL BEAM!**

**Sorata & Aoyama: NO ULTIMATE ATTACKS!**

**Jin-san: I am so happy right now. *chuckles***

** 8**

_**Akasaka Ryuunosuke- **__Don't you dare come anywhere near my room._

_**Ainsworth Rita- **__I am! You can't hide forever!_

_**Akasaka Ryuunosuke- **__Freeloader, keep away. _

_**Ainsworth Rita- **__No! I'm already here._

_**Akasaka Ryuunosuke- **__Stay out._

_**Akasaka Ryuunosuke- **__I don't fully understand your reasoning for even wanting to come in._

_**Akasaka Ryuunosuke- **__However, if you do come in I will never forgive you._

**~Akasaka Ryuunosuke~ has logged off. **

**5 HOURS EARLIER...**

"R-Rita-san..."

Sorata gulped. For a moment everything was as silent as the dead, and nobody could move a muscle. Misaki-senpai and Shiina were too confused to comprehend the tension and the situation, but even they didn't dare say a single word as the silence stretched on. Even Ryuunosuke's face showed the look of shock, and Sorata's anger had melted away as soon as he let the sight of the british girl sink into his mind. The ticks of the clock slowly brought everyone out of their revere, Ryuunosuke was the first one to move. His expression set back into the one he always wore and he rushed to get back into his room, but Rita quickly chased after him, grabbing his hand and stopping him in place. "What is going on, Ryuunosuke?" Glaring back at them all, the programmer said his next sentence with so much venom they could almost taste it. "Ask **them**." Then he roughly pulled his hand from her grip, running into his room, slamming the door and locking it. She stood there for a moment, but soon she took a deep breath and turned around. Locking her gaze with Sorata who was still sitting on the floor, her facial features and aura darkened, reminding them of her expression the night they all found out her reasons for not wanting to paint. "Sorata-kun, what happened?" He got to his feet and sighed, asking her to take a seat so they could explain everything to her properly.

When she did, her glare didn't fade.

"Now, explain."

Sorata sighed and looked at his knees, "Akasaka is acting different. The first time we noticed this was when he disappeared to 'make a call' yesterday, but then returned with a bruise we hadn't noticed that morning. When we asked him the cause of the bruise, he just explained that he had smacked his head off of his monitor. We believed him until he kept disappearing. Yesterday, he apparently left school to attend a meeting that lasted most of lunchtime, and he didn't tell us this so we searched everywhere for him. When he came back he had a bruise forming on his chin and it went down his neck also, maybe you noticed it, but he had no excuse or reason for it to be there. This morning, he woke up tired and almost unable to walk, but he told us that his body just ached from 'lack of sleep' but now we don't believe him. He had dark bag under his eyes and they haven't faded yet, so none of us think they are bags. I had to carry him to school, and he fell asleep on my back, that's not like him at all, Rita-san. You know that more than anyone." Looking her in the eye, he clenched his fists. "We confronted him about everything about 20 minutes before you got here, and he kept denying, making excuses and lying. Things got a bit violent because of me, and I am so sorry about that. However, he's hiding something. We have an idea on what it is, but we don't have solid proof yet."

Her anger hadn't subsided, but she didn't look like she was going to gouge his eyes out with a spoon anymore. "What do you think he's hiding?" Everyone looked at each other, unsure and frightened, but Jin-san looked at her with a serious expression. "We think he's being bullied." It was clear that she was still angry, but her concern overcame her anger and in a split second she was knocking on his door. "Ryuunosuke! Come out here now!" From inside his room, you could hear the tapping stop for a mere moment before it started up again. No other noise was heard. So he was ignoring them, huh? Sorata stood next to her and placed a hand on her shoulder, but she paid him no heed. "Akasaka, I'm sorry. We're sorry if we hurt you in any way, but we're just worried." After a moment, he got a message.

_**Akasaka Ryuunosuke- **__I'm fine, just don't talk to me._

"Akasaka, please stop lying to us."

_**Akasaka Ryuunosuke- **__Why are you accusing me of lying?_

"You are lying, we know something is up! Where did you get that bruise from?!"

_**Akasaka Ryuunosuke- **__I don't know._

"Akasaka!"

_**Akasaka Ryuunosuke- **__Don't talk to me. _

_**Akasaka Ryuunosuke- **__Get away from my door. _

_**Akasaka Ryuunosuke- **__Save some dinner for me, I'll get it myself. Go away._

**~Akasaka Ryuunosuke~ has logged off. **

Sighing, Sorata and Rita faced away from his door and Sorata motioned for the others to go eat dinner whilst he checked on something in his room. They nodded and Aoyama dished out their food, then they all tucked in, silent except for the mere whispers of 'can you pass me a drink?' It was disturbing. Misaki-senpai quietly ate her portion of hotpot, tucking her knees in and resting her chin on her knees. She gazed around at everyone and held back a whimper, '_Sakurasou was never supposed to be like this again!_' Slurping on another spoonful, she remembered back to the time where Sakurasou was silent and there was no light or happiness. Since everyone came to the dormatory, it was much better, everyone was happy and even Ryuunosuke socialised with them...rarely but at least he did! When Rita came along he opened up much more and he even half accepted their friendship, and although Sorata acted like he had accepted his friendship with them, she knew that he was still wary of being friends with such loonies. Now they were all back to square one! Tears began to reside in the corners of her eyes, but she didn't let them fall, she had to be strong for them. Something she had always wanted to be. For some reason she felt like she couldn't keep her calm but depressed composure for long, so she sighed and put her half eaten bowl of hotpot in the bin and put the dish in the sink. Everyone stared at her in surprise and she smiled weakly, "I'm going to get my beauty sleep! Go beauty!" It was a weak cheer, but she had to act like herself as much as she could. When she was by the stairs she rushed to her room as quickly as possible, feeling a few of the hot tears trail down her cheeks. Then she slammed her door louder than she would have liked, hiding under her covers and just letting the tears fall.

Meanwhile, Sorata was sitting at his computer emailing someone who had texted him earlier that day. He sighed angrily and smashed his fist against the wooden surface of his desk, creating a loud crashing sound. The others would definitely ask questions in the morning, but he knew what he would say, he would say that he tripped over his desk and broke it in the progress. Soon, he decided to sleep his frustration off, but before he let unconciousness take him away he stared at the ruins of his desk and the items resting on top..including his computer.

The next morning, nobody spoke to each other as they got ready for school.

There was obviously the usual routine, Sorata making breakfast and him getting Shiina ready but they didn't speak much. It was even more awkward when Ryuunosuke came out of his room. He was dressed in his school uniform and he had his bag in hand, grabbing a tomato from the fridge he totally ignored everyone and made his way out the door and on his way to school. It's not like anyone tried to talk to him, but he didn't even look at them. Misaki-senpai tried to cheer everyone up by cheering and rushing out the door, just like her usual self. "Come on! We have a quest to go on! Rittan, look after our lair! Whoosh!" Then she threw her arms in the air and acted like she was a plane, the blonde girl chuckled weakly and nodded. As she closed the door, they headed off to school.

"Kanda-kun?"

"Hm?"

Aoyama nibbled on her bottom lip, "What was that loud noise last night?"

He knew it. "Oh that?" Chuckling, he scratched the back of his neck. "I, um..I tripped over and broke my desk."

Jin-san turned around and sighed smirking, "Well done, Sorata.

Aoyama giggled and so did Misaki-senpai, Shiina however, didn't buy it. "Liar." He blinked and then his gaze turned empty, "Shiina, we've been through enough lying. Do you really think I'd lie now?" She narrowed her eyes and glared at him, "Liar." Sighing, he shook his head and stretched his arms yawning. Since he was worrying about Ryuunosuke and Rita last night, he didn't get too much sleep. He didn't even close his eyes properly until about 2AM. Misaki-senpai yawned also, she didn't get too much sleep either. Jin-san sighed and messed around with his hair, "So..about Ryuunosuke this morning, do you think he's mad?" Sorata shook his head, "I think he hates us now..." Misaki-senpai suddenly spoke up loudly, as if trying to silence him or tune him out. "Kouhai-kun! Do you think that if it was someones birthday, but they didn't know, that they would still get older?!" Everyone in the group sweatdropped and facepalmed, with the acception of Shiina, who looked like she was deep in thought. Aoyama nodded her head, "Yes, senpai..they would get older." Then she started blabbering on about how happy she would be if there was a planet called hotpot and how there would be loads of small pieces of meat as the aliens, and after that they stopped paying attention. When they got to the school they went their seperate ways, agreeing to meet up by the gate earlier so they could maybe catch up with Ryuunosuke.

** 8**

The day went by faster than they all expected, but when they met up outside of school they didn't see Ryuunosuke anywhere. So they guessed he had left for home early, that he somehow found out about their plans to find him. Which wasn't surprising, he was smart enough to know that they would want to talk to him. Giving up, they all made their way home and wondered if Rita was alright, she wasn't acting like herself so it was difficult to tell. Shiina kept looking around the places they walked to see if Ryuunosuke was somewhere there, but he never was. It was a few minutes later that they got back to Sakurasou, Rita was just unpacking some shopping that looked quite new. Sorata smiled and shouted into the kitchen, "We're back!" She appeared at the kitchen door and her smile faded straight away, they all blinked in confusion. "What's wrong?"

"W-Where's Ryuunosuke?"

Aoyama paled, "You mean he-he isn't here?"

The blonde shook her head slowly, everyone was about to head out the door when it opened revealing the raven haired boy himself. He seemed like himself but he wasn't looking anyone in the eye...or even looking up. Before he could go anywhere, Rita stopped him by stepping right in front of him. "Ryuunosuke, are you okay?" He nodded, "I'm fine, Freeloader." She hummed and bent her knees slightly so she could take a look at his face, but he just hid it further. "Ryuunosuke, why won't you look at me?" Sighing, he shrugged, but stayed silent as everyone kept staring at him as if they were staring into his soul. After a moment, he felt a warm hand go under his chin, then as his face was being lifted he jumped back. Seeming determined to look at him, she placed both of her hands on his shoulders and kept him still. "Ryuunosuke, are you hurt?" He shook his head, "No, I'm fine, Freeloader. Get off me." Trying to slap one of her hands away, the programmer stepped sidewards but she gripped his shoulders tighter and bit her lip. His glare, although she couldn't see, was livid. Basically, he was angry that she would be so worked up about nothing. "Freeloader, leave me alone."

"Stop running."

Her voice was so quiet that they almost couldn't hear her, but they did, and he was just getting angrier. "Freeloader, I told you to leave me alone. I meant it."

"Well I said stop running, and **I **meant it!"

"Stop yelling."

"Well, you stop lying!"

Everything went silent and Ryuunosuke huffed, "You reckon I should tell you 'the truth?'" She nodded and he lifted his head up, looking her straight in the eye. Her eyes widened and she paled visably, everyone was behind him so they couldn't see anything but her face and the back of his head. Then he pushed her hands away from him and made his way back to his room, when he was gone they all asked her if she was alright. She shook her head, "You're right." They blinked in confusion, asking her for a while what she meant but she just held her cheeks. Refusing to believe that what she just saw was real, to some it might not seem so bad, but to her even a few bumps and bruises mean a lot. Especially since it was him.

"Rita-san, what is it?"

"Rita-san?!"

"Rittan, is something wrong?"

Jin-san shut them all up by crossing his arms and looking the british girl in the eye, "We are right in our observation. Ryuunosuke is getting bullied." For the next few hours, everything was silent and nobody would come out of their rooms. Soon, they had to eat something. So, Sorata reluctantly got out of bed and began making some stew for everyone. One after the other, the residents of Sakurasou left the comfort of their bedrooms to eat dinner. One after the other, the residents of Sakurasou left the comfort of their imagination and into the harsh place people called reality. They finally realised the situation, their friend was being hurt. Shiina was the first one to bring it up at dinner, since nobody could be bothered to go back to bed after eating. It was out of the blue, but they all needed to hear it said by her. Considering, she was one who didn't understand these things with too much ease. "Is Ryuunosuke hurting?" Rita looked down at her lap and said nothing, Jin-san and Aoyama looked at each other sadly, Sorata and Misaki-senpai froze in place. Slowly, Jin-san nodded in answer to her question and he sighed fussing with his glasses, the silence was slightly awkward but it was tense as well. So, everyone was afraid to cut through the silence with any sort of conversation, but...

"Dragon should be happy."

All eyes went to Misaki-senpai's broken figure, she was sitting on the chair with her legs tucked in and her face hidden in her knees. Rita had never seen Misaki-senpai look so sad before, she had never seen her break down like this before. Reaching out, she quickly embraced the anime artist and got her out of her little ball. She didn't expect this leading her to almost fall off of her chair, but she managed to keep herself upright. "R-Rittan...?"

"It'll be okay."

Her brown eyes widened with hope at her friends words.

"I promise."

She sniffed and sobbed into her friends shoulder, "Rittan! Everything **will** go back to normal right?! Right?!" Rita smiled softly and tears resided in the corner of her eyes, but she shook her head and held her tighter. "No, it'll be better than normal." After taking in her friends words, Misaki-senpai went back to sobbing and sniffling into her shoulder. Ryuunosuke was still in his room, but he could hear the sobbing and he guessed that the whole neighbourhood could as well. Sighing, he typed more work into his computer and carried on with one of his projects, even as Maid-chan began to cry with her.

That night, they all planned to get **some **information out of him.

Even if they had to corner him one day, they would help him somehow.

Later on that night, about 5 hours from when they last spoke to Ryuunosuke, Rita was lying on the futon worrying too much about a certain raven haired programmer. So, trying their plan a bit earlier than they agreed on, she emailed him and worried her bottom lip nervously. After a while, he finally sent her a reply.

_**Ainsworth Rita- **__Ryuunosuke, are you awake?_

_**Akasaka Ryuunosuke- **__Yes, what do you want?_

It wasn't exactly the answer she had wanted, but he must still be angry with her. Even more now that she had disturbed his work, she had trouble finding something to say that would actually interest him. So she just asked a simple, easy to answer question.

_**Ainsworth Rita- **__Are you okay? _

Yet it took 20 minutes for him to reply back to her with three small letters.

_**Akasaka Ryuunosuke- **__Yes._

This started a very casual conversation, but she knew he wasn't falling for her 'normal' act.

_**Ainsworth Rita- **__What are you up to?_

_**Akasaka Ryuunosuke- **__Work, you should be sleeping._

_**Ainsworth Rita- **__I'm not tired, aren't you?_

_**Akasaka Ryuunosuke- **__I rarely ever get tired, Freeloader._

_**Ainsworth Rita- **__The others told me that you were yesterday?_

_**Akasaka Ryuunosuke- **__That was one of those rare times. _

Of course she didn't believe a single word he was saying. So she began the conversation she really wanted to have with him, but she tried not to scare him away in the process.

_**Ainsworth Rita- **__Why were you tired?_

_**Akasaka Ryuunosuke- **__I'm human._

_**Akasaka Ryuunosuke- **__Every human gets tired sometimes, Freeloader._

_**Ainsworth Rita- **__Yeah, but they said that you couldn't even walk._

_**Akasaka Ryuunosuke- **__I could, Kanda just wouldn't let me._

_**Ainsworth Rita- **__Everyone is worried about you._

_**Akasaka Ryuunosuke- **__Why?_

Rita looked at her phone as if it had started speak spanish, why? Why did he think they were so worried about him?! She narrowed her eyes at her phone and got angry with him, how could he not know how concerned they were? Didn't he hear Misaki-senpai's crying?! Before she could say anything however, he did.

_**Akasaka Ryuunosuke- **__Why was Kamiigusa crying? _

So he did hear her...

_**Ainsworth Rita- **__She just wants everything to go back to normal, Ryuunosuke._

_**Akasaka Ryuunosuke- **__It can._

_**Ainsworth Rita- **__How exactly?_

_**Akasaka Ryuunosuke- **__Freeloader, forget what you saw today. _

_**Akasaka Ryuunosuke- **__Tell them I'm okay, and move on._

_**Ainsworth Rita- **__So, you're admitting that you're not okay?_

_**Akasaka Ryuunosuke- **__No, I'm telling you to tell them the truth._

_**Ainsworth Rita- **__It isn't the truth!_

_**Akasaka Ryuunosuke- **__How do you know that?_

_**Ainsworth Rita- **__I know because being bullied isn't something anyone wants to go through._

_**Akasaka Ryuunosuke- **__What do you mean?_

_**Ainsworth Rita- **__How else would you have gotten those bruises?_

_**Akasaka Ryuunosuke- **__Why do you care?_

_**Ainsworth Rita- **__I couldn't sleep, because I was so worried about you._

_**Akasaka Ryuunosuke- **__I'm fine._

_**Akasaka Ryuunosuke- **__Go to sleep, it's late._

How did he expect her to sleep with him being beaten on her mind?! She sat up and quietly crept out of Aoyamas room, so she didn't wake anybody up. Then she stood at the top of the stairs, messaging him back.

_**Ainsworth Rita- **__No, I'm coming to see you._

_**Akasaka Ryuunosuke- **__It's late and my door is locked. _

_**Akasaka Ryuunosuke- **__Go to sleep._

Making her way down the stairs, she thought of how she would get into her destination. Chihiro-sensei's office could be locked and only she had the keys for that, hopefully it wouldn't be. As she got to bottom of the stairs, she took a deep breath and padded down the wooden floor to the office only to find that she had forgotten to lock it. A stroke of luck.

_**Ainsworth Rita- **__No! Chihiro has a key that can open all the doors at Sakurasou. _

_**Ainsworth Rita- **__So I'll use that!_

_**Akasaka Ryuunosuke- **__Don't you dare come anywhere near my room._

_**Ainsworth Rita- **__I am! You can't hide forever!_

_**Akasaka Ryuunosuke- **__Freeloader, keep away._

_**Ainsworth Rita- **__No! I'm already here._

_**Akasaka Ryuunosuke- **__Stay out._

_**Akasaka Ryuunosuke- **__I don't fully understand your reasoning for even wanting to come in._

_**Akasaka Ryuunosuke- **__However, if you do come in I will never forgive you._

**~Akasaka Ryuunosuke~ has logged off. **

She froze outside of his door, he wouldn't forgive her?

Could she live without him?

Sadly, she took one step away from his door and stared at the wooden wall in despair. Hearing the typing of the one on her mind saddened her even more, it showed that it was definitely in there and that he was definitely the one answering her emails. So she really couldn't see him? Knocking on his door once, she very quietly whispered to him something before going back upstairs to try and sleep. Unknown to her, she had left him in a short state of shock. Why would she do such a thing? He gritted his teeth together and clenched his hands into fists, why..?! Stupid Freeloader.

_**"I'm not leaving until I know everything is okay."**_

_'Stupid freaking Freeloader...!'_

**Me: ONE OF THE STARTER PARAGRAPHS! **

**Sorata: Calm down, Miko-san! **

**Me: BUT I FINALLY DID IT! THIS TOOK ME FOREVER!**

**Aoyama: What? How come?**

**Me: I WANTED IT TO BE GOOD SO I KEPT CHANGING THINGS!**

**Shiina: It's long.**

**Me: I WANTED IT TO BE LONG TO MAKE UP FOR THE LAST SHORT CHAPTER!**

**Misaki-senpai: KEEP WRITING MY DEAR FRIEND!**

**Me: I WILL MISAKI-SENPAI!**

**Misaki-senpai: LETS WRITE TOGETHER!**

**Me: INDEED MISAKI-SENPAI!**

**Jin-san: *hold the side of his head in pain* Please stop shouting.**

**Ryuunosuke: *holds the bridge of his nose with index finger and thumb* So loud...**

**Rita: Y-You guys might want to be quiet. It's pretty late.**

**Me: BUT I CAN'T FOR YOU SEE...**

**Misaki-senpai: *eyes twinkle in excitement***

**Me:...I WILL BE PUTTING YET **_**ANOTHER **_**ONE OF THE STARTER PARAGRAPHS IN THE NEXT CHAPTER!**

**Misaki-senpai: YAY! WRITE ON, MI-MI-MIIIKOON!**

**Me: YES MISAKI-SENPAI!**

**Ryuunosuke: Please shut them up, Kanda.**

**Sorata: What do you expect me to do?!**

**Ryuunosuke&Jin-san: Anything!**

**Aoyama: H-Hotpot time!**

**Everyone: *silence***

**Me&Misaki-senpai: OUT OF MY WAAAY! **

**Me: FOOOOOD!**


	5. Chapter 5- Locked Doors

**Me: Hiii! I would just like to thank Bakugan159 for supporting this story! Loving your comments! *smiles***

**Misaki-senpai: THANK YOUU!**

**Jin-san: *sighs* **

**Me: As a gift..I'm going to make Jin-san dance now!**

**Jin-san: E-Excuse me?!**

**Aoyama: Don't you think that's a bit mean, Miko-san?**

**Me: Duh! That's why I'm doing it! What should I make him do?**

**Misaki-senpai: The caramel dansen!**

**Sorata: Oh no..**

**Ryuunosuke: *covers his eyes* I don't want to see this.**

**Rita: *covers his eyes with her hands* I don't want you to be uncomfortable.**

**Shiina: *raises an eyebrow* **

**Everyone: *stares at her***

**Rita: What? *is confused***

**Ryuunosuke: *takes her hand away from his face* Even Shiina is unsure of that statement, Freeloader. That says something.**

**Rita: W-What are you guys trying to tell me here?**

**Misaki-senpai: Mashiron is showing emotion other than happiness, murder or sadness?! HOLY CRAP! SOUND THE ALARMS! IT'S THE ARMAGEDDON! HIDE YOUR CHILDREN! HIDE YOUR WIVES! **

**Me: OH MY GOSH! IT IS TRULY THE END! FATHER, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?! IN YOUR EYES FORSAKEN ME! IN YOUR THOUGHTS FORSAKEN ME! IN YOUR HEART FORSAKEN...ME! OH, TRUUUUSTT IIIINN MYYYY-**

**Sorata: Please be quiet Miko-san.**

**Aoyama: You have a story to write!**

**Shiina: Wow, I do one thing and suddenly the world is ending?**

**Misaki-senpai&Me: ASDFGHJKL! SARCASM! WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?! IN YOUR EYES FORSAKEN ME! IN YOUR THOUGHTS FORSAKEN ME! IN YOUR HEART FORSAKEN..MEEE!**

**Everyone: *sighs* **

**Shiina: *goes back to being expressionless* Hm?**

**Jin-san: *sneaks away* Phew...**

**Me: JIIIIIIIIN-SANNNN!**

**Misaki-senpai: JIIIIIIIIIIIIN! TIME TO DAAAAANCE!**

**Jin-san: *runs away* **

_**Sorata Kanda- **__I saw you! _

_**Akasaka Ryuunosuke- **__What you saw was not anything serious._

_**Sorata Kanda- **__Are you being serious?! Of course it was!_

_**Akasaka Ryuunosuke- **__Forget what you saw and move on._

_**Sorata Kanda- **__I can't forget that! Why were you out anyway?!_

_**Akasaka Ryuunosuke- **__First you tell me you don't want me staying inside._

_**Akasaka Ryuunosuke- **__Now you say that you don't want me outside._

_**Akasaka Ryuunosuke- **__Don't control me._

**~Akasaka Ryuunosuke~ has logged off.**

_**FOUR DAYS EARLIER...**_

Luckily, his computer wasn't broken and his desk was easy to fix.

Sorata went through all of his files the next day, getting angrier as he got to the files which he sent to the 'Sozo-tekina gemu contest' in Kyoto. What was wrong with them?! He had done everything he could, and still he had failed to get to where he wanted to be. It was a horror multiplayer game where one player was simulating the enemies and trying to get the other player who would be the one trying to escape whatever map they would choose, each map was different. There was a haunted house, an asylum, a graveyard, a village where you couldn't leave, a forest and he would have updated more if they had given him a chance! Apparently, it didn't only cost way too much money, but most people wouldn't want to play it because of the amount of maps there were. He would have created more dammit! Slamming his hands on his desk, it shook violently and threathened to break again, but instead of that it just annoyed Ryuunosuke. He knew this because soon afterwards he got an email from the hikikomori.

_**Akasaka Ryuunosuke- **__Keep the noise down!_

_**Akasaka Ryuunosuke- **__I'm trying to work, Kanda._

Eyes widening, not only in shock but in anger, Sorata typed back a reply which he was sure would knock some sense of time into the young male. However, it didn't. It seemed as if he already knew.

_**Sorata Kanda- **__Why aren't you getting ready for school? _

_**Akasaka Ryuunosuke- **__I'm not going to school._

He wasn't...going?

_**Sorata Kanda- **__Why aren't you going?_

_**Akasaka Ryuunosuke- **__I don't have any reason too, Kanda._

_**Akasaka Ryuunosuke- **__My attendance record is average, so there is no need for me to attend school anymore._

_**Sorata Kanda- **__So you aren't going to school? Are you going to come out for dinner tonight?_

_**Akasaka Ryuunosuke- **__No. Save some dinner for me._

_**Sorata Kanda- **__Akasaka! You need to eat!_

_**Akasaka Ryuunosuke- **__Did I say that I wasn't going to eat? _

_**Akasaka Ryuunosuke- **__No, so don't accuse me of such things._

_**Sorata Kanda- **__So, you aren't going to come out at all when we're up?!_

_**Akasaka Ryuunosuke- **__It isn't crucial, so no._

_**Sorata Kanda- **__We do want to see you at some time, Akasaka!_

_**Akasaka Ryuunosuke- **__That isn't a good reason for me to leave the safety of my room._

_**Sorata Kanda- **__Why are you doing this?!_

_**Akasaka Ryuunosuke- **__It's for the good of everyone at Sakurasou._

_**Akasaka Ryuunosuke- **__Don't take it personally._

_**Sorata Kanda- **__Is it to do with the conversation we had yesterday?_

_**Akasaka Ryuunosuke- **__I have my own reasons._

_**Sorata Kanda- **__Akasaka, you won't survive if you go on like this forever!_

_**Akasaka Ryuunosuke- **__Concentrate on your own problems, Kanda._

**~Akasaka Ryuunosuke~ has logged off.**

Storming out of his room, Sorata pounded on his friends door loudly. Too loudly in fact, because it woke half of Sakurasou up. "Akasaka! Open the door now!" From inside they could hear the muffled voice of the tired and clearly irritated programmer, his comment was sarcastic yet so serious. "You aren't my mother, Kanda. Stop acting like you are." Slamming his fist on his door, a small dint was made by the force of the punch and everyone was surprised at his strength. "Why aren't you taking this seriously?!" Sighing, the shut-in kept typing something for work and he glared at the door, hoping that his dorm neighbour would just leave. "I don't take this seriously? Why do you think I'm staying in here?" However, they didn't understand his logic. "How is **this **taking it seriously?!"

"It's the only way to stop it altogether."

Their eyes widened, he continued. "You see, no matter how strong you mentally are, you have to be physically strong to fight people like them. I simply don't have that strength."

"We'll help you! We'll be that strength!"

He sighed, "Kanda-"

"That's all we want to do! Why can't you let us help you?!"

"That's exactly what they want me to do, Kanda!"

Everyone was now up, including a shadowed figure standing by the stairs. None of them expected him to shout, or even seem the least bit bothered about the situation. He seemed to surprise them more than he knew.

"A-Akasaka-"

His voice rose in volume, "Kanda, you can't help anyone by breaking things and screaming at everyone! So just give up on this whole thing! I'm fine now!"

"Man, the both of you are stupid as hell."

Everyone turned around to see Chihiro-sensei standing there, looking not only annoyed but only very _**slightly **_looked sad, in that small and stone heart of hers she felt sadness seeing them all so broken. However, that was only a little bit. "First of all, Kanda, stop screaming. Secondly, Akasaka, don't be a hypacrite. You're yelling too." Sorata's eyes narrowed in anger as he glared at her, then he explained the situation in as much detail as he knew she would listen to. Once she had processed all of this information, she took out the key to all of Sakurasous rooms and began to unlock his door. "Akasaka, you should know that the school can stop them." Suddenly, there was a clicking noise and then a short buzzing noise. Then there was silence, as she asked what that was, she began twisting the key once again. However, her hand was just thrown back slightly, she tried again and again, putting more force on with each try. "Akasaka, what is going on?" She started sounding more and more irritated with every failed attempt, but he did not answer. They didn't even hear typing, it was silent in his room. "Akasaka!"

"It's an electric magnet, one that any computer professional could make, except this one can't open unless I turn off it's power."

Her eyes widened in surprise, "Akasaka! You aren't allowed to do this, I demand that you open this door."

"No, you can't control me Chihiro-sensei."

"I can, I am the one who takes care of you all in Sakurasou. Now open the door."

His voice turned bitter, "So, a caretaker goes out every day and night to drink and hook up?"

Everyone was silent. How could he just say that when she was actually trying to help him? After a few moments, he huffed. "Exactly."

** 8**

**Me: YAY! A SECOND PAST PARAGRAPH!**

**Misaki-senpai: HOLY CHEESE!**

**Jin-san: *hiding***

**Shiina: *goes around corner and points at him* Found, Jin-san.**

**Me: *slowly turns head all the way around like in the excorsist* **_**J-i-n...**_

**Sorata: Miko-san...! Don't do this!**

**Aoyama: He has so much to do before something so humiliating!**

**Me: DANCE JIN! *turns on caramel dansen***

**Jin-san: Oh no! *does dance***

**Misaki-senpai: YAY! *dances with him***

**Shiina: *dances***

**Aoyama: M-Mashiro?!**

**Rita: *giggles and pulls Ryuunosuke by his hand into the line, making him dance***

**Ryuunosuke: OI! F-Freeloader, let me go!**

**Rita: Come ooon! *does the dance with him***

**Ryuunosuke: *dances* One day I will get my revenge...!**

**Rita: *giggles***

**Aoyama: *dances* NO! MIKO-SAN PLEASE!**

**Sorata: *backs away from me* No...No! Please!**

**Me: *smirks and types***

**Sorata: *dances* NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!**

**Me: BWUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Btw: Sorry this is short..**


	6. Chapter 6- Thank you, Etsuko

**Me: Sorry that I haven't updated in a while! **

**Sorata: *sighs* At least you took a break.**

**Me: Nope! *grins***

**Sorata: WHAT?!**

**Me: Wattpad.**

**Aoyama: Miko-san! Bad Miko-san!**

**Me: *pouts* N-N-Nanamin...!**

**Aoyama: Don't you 'Nanamin' me!**

**Me: *cries* RITA-SAN!**

**Rita: *stops 'annoying' Ryuunosuke* Yes, Miko-san?**

**Me: *huggles Rita-san* N-N-N-NANAMIN WAS BEING MEAN!**

**Rita: *blinks in surprise* M-Miko-san? Why would she do that?**

**Me: S-S-She got mad because I wrote again!**

**Rita: Aw...poor Miko-san! *huggles me***

**Ryuunosuke: Pathetic.**

**Me: *tears up***

**Rita: R-Ryuunosuke!**

**Misaki-senpai: DRAGON, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!**

**Jin-san: Oh no...!**

**Shiina: Cover your ears.**

**Ryuunosuke: Why?**

**Me: WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! WHY WOULD YOU DO THIIIIIIIISSSSSS RYUUNOSUKE-SENPAI!**

_**Akasaka Ryuunosuke-**__If your father is expecting you home, then go home._

_**Ainsworth Rita- **__Not until I know for certain that you're safe!_

_**Akasaka Ryuunosuke- **__Freeloader, it is important that your father knows that you're safe._

_**Akasaka Ryuunosuke- **__If not then he may not let you come back to Sakurasou._

_**Ainsworth Rita- **__Even if he doesn't want me to, I'm coming back here._

_**Ainsworth Rita- **__I can't live without you._

_**Akasaka Ryuunosuke- **__No, you can't live without air. I am not air._

_**Ainsworth Rita- **__You might as well be, I need you._

**~Akasaka Ryuunosuke~ has logged out.**

_**SIX DAYS EARLIER...**_

Even Chihiro-sensei was surprised at what he had said, she and the others were sitting in the living room trying to figure out how to help him. Aoyama mentioned the boys from the canteen and Sorata asked Jin-san if he knew who they were, but he was unsure of who he was talking about. "I don't know everyone in the school just because I'm older than you." To everyone else he sounded more irritated than mad, but it worried them because usually he would be the one giving them advice. He would usually be calm and explain anything they didn't understand, but now he was frustrated and quiet. Misaki-senpai knew this and was getting more and more worried with each passing second, she had known him since they were children and he had almost never been angry. "What should we do?" Sorata sighed and everyone else shrugged at his question, Chihiro-sensei frowned at their hopelessness. "Honestly, you idiots are hopeless." They all blinked in slight offence and shock at her insult, then she continued. "What you do is you prove to him that there is a different way!" Her determination surprised them, but they soon shook their heads. "We've tried everything."

"Have you actually suggested the other ways to him?"

Everyone looked at each other, interested in the idea. Then they looked back at Ryuunosuke's room, wondering whether he was alright. Chihiro-sensei stood and stretched, she stared at them all with a fed up expression before yawning. "You kids better come up with something. I've never seen him like this before, it's freaking me out." Even though her words didn't seem to have any sort of kind feeling to the, they all knew that this was her way of expressing her concern. Rita balled her hands into fists and nodded, "We will!" The red haired woman smirked at her determination, "I know very well that you will, Rita." Shiina punched the air and nodded, then she stood up and went to her room. Confused gazes followed her figure as she ran, before they could say anything however, they heard a huge crash from upstairs. "S-Shiina?!" Sorata was the first one to rush upstairs after her, many footsteps followed after him. When they got to her room they saw her sitting on her chair, papers and electrical equipment covering her. Sighs of relief were made by everyone as Aoyama picked everything on her knees, after a moment Sorata got an email from Ryuunosuke asking if everything was alright. He answered back telling him that they were fine, Misaki-senpai looked over his shoulder at the message sadly.

"M-Mashiro..."

Their attention was caught by Aoyama who was staring at a manga drawing she had made earlier that week, apparently she was continuing the Nanohanasou, but the front cover of it was a big question mark and a boy who very much resembled Ryuunosuke leaning against it with bruises covering his face. Sorata looked at her softly, "Shiina..." Aoyama read the back and smiled widely, hugging her friend tightly. "You're a genius, Mashiro!" The blonde haired girl looked at the brunette in confusion before she passed the paper to Sorata, he read it over before smiling. "Have you gotten any replies yet?" She nodded and they all went onto her email to see if anyone had any answers to her question.

_**How do you think they should help him? Send me an email!**_

She had left her email down underneath and had gotten millions of messages from different people around the world, once they had logged in, they saw that her inbox was full of unknown email address'. They read through a few, and decided that some of her fans weren't being very serious about their suggestions at all. Soon however, they came to some messages that reduced Aoyama to sobbing loudly. Shiina was secretly proud of all who sent her such messages, and she decided that she would ask her readers for advice more often. Misaki-senpai pointed to one of the messages which she took a strange liking too, even she said that she didn't understand why she wanted to read it. They did and it left all of the girls crying.

_Dear Shiina-sama,_

_First I would just like to say that I enjoy your manga, and that I'm happy that you want to interact with your readers. Thank you for drawing such beautiful manga with such an inspiring story, I hope you draw for many years to come._

_My suggestion to your question is that you should somehow get him to understand that the people of Nanohanasou aren't going to give up on him, no matter how much he wants them too. You should try and make him understand that they care about him and that things will get better without him needing to hide himself away, but you should also give a little bit of tension for your viewers' enjoyment. Explain to him that there are many other ways that he can be safe, and you should make the characters explain to him that he can trust them and he can trust the school to help him. Of course with his personality, it will be hard to convince him. However, make the characters prove to him somehow that there __**is **__a way to help him. _

_I have been through a situation like this before, my best friend was being beaten up and picked on in school, but she didn't tell me or anyone else how she felt. It turns out that she had been feeling alone and scared for a long time, no-one knew about this and she ran away. I haven't seen her for 7 years, she was only 10 when she ran away. Nobody knows if she's even alive. Explain a story like mine to him and try and get him to understand, but it's your decision on whether he understands or not. Hopefully he does._

_To help him, your characters should find out who exactly is hurting him and why they are doing it. If they bother to explain then maybe they aren't doing it just to be bad people, but if you decide to make them bad people then at least find it in your heart to give them a happy ending too. I believe that nobody is truly bad, nobody is born evil, they grow up that way from experiences. Another more realistic suggestion would be to make them tell their school, and I'm sure that somehow they will help. I hope that you have never and will never have to experience anything like this, and if you do, I wish you the best of luck. Please don't let your character end up like my best friend. Please don't torture me by rewriting my friends story. Please don't make your characters end up like me. I miss her everyday. I always pray that she's alive. _

_Thank you, Etsuko._

Tears fell onto the desk as Shiina clicked away from the email, out of the corner of her eye she saw Rita, Aoyama and Misaki-senpai crying too. The boys were too shocked and saddened to say anything, but somehow Jin-san managed to speak after a few minutes of absolute silence. "I say you pick that one, Shiina." She slowly nodded, wiping her eyes only to have fresh tears replace the old ones. Rita wrapped her arms around the girl tightly and tried to stop her crying, "You read it didn't you? We can't let our friend end up like hers." Sorata nodded, a determined expression set on his face. Chihiro-sensei felt something burn her eyes and she soon yawned, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. Then she made her way back to her office to take a nap, she seriously couldn't be bothered with all the drama crap she was recieving. Shiina gripped the back of Rita's shirt tightly and nodded, tears still falling from her eyes. "I hope her friend is alive."

"Me too."

Aoyama was currently comforting Misaki-senpai who was hysterical, she sobbed into her friends chest and shook her head. "Dragon won't end up like that, will he?!" The brunette shook her head and took her friends face in her hands, looking her in the eye, she gave her an adamant stare. "Listen to me senpai, Akasaka-kun will be okay. We will make him understand how much we're worried about him, and we'll use what Etsuko wrote in her email. We'll do anything, okay?" She nodded in response as Aoyama let go of her, then they all made their way downstairs, the girls still wiping their faces with hankies and tissues. Once they had all calmed down, they talked about how and when they would 'strike'. As everyone predicted, Misaki-senpai went a bit overboard whilst they planned it. She bounced around, announcing their 'positions' and how they would 'attack' him. Sorata and Jin-san had heaches by the end, but the others somehow managed to get through her yelling. Maybe it was their determination or maybe their ears were indestructable, but by the time they had finished it was time to make dinner. Sorata asked for requests and they all decided on okonomiyaki, of course he saved some for Ryuunosuke who was still in his room.

"Misaki, have you ever thought about who these boys are?"

She blinked and looked over at Jin-san who innocently drank his tea, then she nodded and grinned madly. "Yeah! You can do that Jin, since you're so smart!"

He raised an eyebrow, "Alright, but I will need Sorata to point them out for me since I've only ever seen them twice, he's seen them three times."

Sorata looked at him nervously, "Jin-san, the first time I saw them was very brief."

"Still, you'll know them when you see them."

Everyone agreed that Sorata would accompany Jin-san to find the boys they thought were hurting Ryuunosuke, then they dug into their dinner talking more than they did the other day. Misaki-senpai was happy about this, glad that they had some sort of attack plan to help Ryuunosuke. Jin-san then asked a question nobody could really answer except for the programmer himself, "Hey, does anyone know who found out first?" They all looked at each other, as if waiting for the other person to answer. When it was silent, he chuckled and shook his head, telling them that it didn't matter. Even though, to him it really did. He would hide his concern though, to keep them all from worrying about it. They had enough to worry about already. Picking up his phone, he went on his email to see if Ryuunosuke was logged on. Luckily, he was.

_**Mitaka Jin- **__Ryuunosuke, can't you just admit that you aren't okay?_

_**Akasaka Ryuunosuke- **__Where is this coming from?_

_**Mitaka Jin- **__You should know that we know what's going on._

_**Akasaka Ryuunosuke- **__Good for you._

_**Akasaka Ryuunosuke- **__Now let me go back to work._

_**Mitaka Jin- **__How much work do you have?_

_**Akasaka Ryuunosuke- **__I have alot of work to improve and complete._

_**Mitaka Jin- **__Don't you miss being outside?_

_**Akasaka Ryuunosuke- **__Definitely not._

Well, that wasn't surprising to the older male. He never left his room anyway, but it was still unnerving in that situation. Although, it really shouldn't worry anyone, he was never around. However, it still did. How strange.

_**Mitaka Jin- **__Ryuunosuke, you haven't been out of your room in days._

_**Akasaka Ryuunosuke- **__I'm fine, over time I have adapted to this environment._

_**Akasaka Ryuunosuke- **__It's actually quite relaxing._

_**Mitaka Jin- **__Who found out first?_

_**Akasaka Ryuunosuke- **__Does that really matter?_

_**Mitaka Jin- **__Yes._

_**Akasaka Ryuunosuke- **__It isn't essential or absolutely crucial._

_**Akasaka Ryuunosuke- **__Therefore, it doesn't matter._

_**Akasaka Ryuunosuke- **__Aoyama._

**~Akasaka Ryuunosuke~ has logged off. **

Logging out of the email himself, Jin-san glanced over at the brunette. He wondered whether she knew that she was the one who found out first, it seemed as if she didn't. However, he had learned over time that every feeling someone has can be hidden behind a smile. Everyone in Sakurasou had proved that.

**Me: Sorry this was pretty short too!**

**Sorata: *sighs* You'd better write a longer chapter next time.**

**Me: I will!**

**Shiina: *steals keyboard***

**Me: SHIINA! GIVE IT BACK!**

**Rita: I think Ryuunosuke's dead...*crouches beside his body***

**Ryuunosuke: *groans and holds ears* **

**Rita: Oh! Nevermind!**

**Aoyama: Good, considering this story is about him and Kanda-kun!**

**Me: *chases Shiina* GIMMIE!**

**Misaki-senpai: *laughs and runs too* WEEEE!**

**Jin-san: *sweatdrop***

**Shiina: *runs upstairs***

**Me: GIMMIE!**

**Ryuunosuke: *sits up* Ouch...**

**Rita: Are you okay?**

**Ryuunosuke: I'll be fine, as long as Miko keeps away from me.**

**Me: *runs across the hallways where Ryuunosuke and Rita are* GIVE ME IT!**

**Sorata: STOP RUNNING GUYS!**

**Me&Misaki-senpai&Shiina: *runs***

**Sorata: *facepalm***

**Ryuunosuke: I hate all of you.**


	7. Chapter 7- Plan of Attack

**Me: Hey guys!**

**Ryuunosuke: You have homework to do, Loonatic.**

**Me: *grins* HAVE YOU GIVEN ME A NICKNAME?!**

**Ryuunosuke: No, I'm simply stating an obvious fact.**

**Me: Aw...**

**Sorata: M-Miko-san, your homework?**

**Me: NUUUUUUUUU-**

**Misaki-senpai: NOT THE SCREAMING AGAIN!**

**Me: -UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-**

**Misaki-senpai: PLEASE NO!**

**Me: -UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-**

**Aoyama: S-Senpai!**

**Sorata: You're just making it worse!**

**Shiina: *clears throat* UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-**

**Rita: M-Mashiro?! **

**Jin-san: *clutches onto his head* Ow...!**

**Ryuunosuke: Please, somebody kill them!**

**Me: -UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-**

**Shiina: -UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-**

**Misaki-senpai: I feel left out! UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-**

**Everyone else: PLEASE STOP!**

**Me: *types* -UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-**

_**Sorata Kanda- **__Akasaka, we said that we were sorry!_

_**Sorata Kanda- **__Akasaka?_

_**Sorata Kanda- **__Please don't ignore me._

_**Sorata Kanda- **__Akasaka, we're only trying to help you!_

_**Sorata Kanda- **__We didn't mean for anything bad to happen!_

_**Sorata Kanda- **__We're sorry! Please don't block us out!_

**~Akasaka Ryuunosuke' has logged out.**

_**FIVE DAYS EARLIER...**_

Opening his eyes slowly, Ryuunosuke looked out at the blinds letting the smallest amount of light into his room. As he sat up, he rubbed the sleep from his maroon eyes and checked that nothing had fallen off of his desk whilst he was laying there. His computer chair was honestly not the most comfortable place to do an all nighter, but he wouldn't let himself sleep a wink that night. Which was why his whole body felt heavy and why he felt so dizzy, he refused to let himself weaken to the point where he got no work done. So, he quickly looked up at his AI who was standing perfectly still, a few letter Z's formed at the side of her head to let her master and anyone passing by that she was still 'sleeping'. For a few moments, he sat there and analysed her appearance, the red hair, her red eyes hidden beneath her pale pixel eyelids and the little maids outfit to go with her name. Maid-chan. Also known to him as Yuki. His old friend from middle school. She was probably his closest friend out of the group. Despite being a woman, she had a very indpendent and positive mind and was reluctant to shun Ryuunosuke, but since his luck had never been very good back then, she did. He hated to admit it, but she was possibly the only woman he had ever liked in any way. She never made him feel uncomfortable, she was always trying to make him proud and she stuck up for him whenever they all got into an argument, unless he was wrong. That was just how she was. For a mere second, he thought about what she was doing for a living, but then he realised how pathetic and silly he sounded just thinking about it for even a single moment. She was long gone from his life now. He had to get over the fact that she was. He couldn't dwell on the past forever.

Before he could delve any deeper into his thoughts, Ryuunosuke switched the AI on and watched as her little red eyes fluttered open to meet his. She grinned at him and wished him a very good morning, he nodded in response and got to work on anything he could find. Anything he could find to occupy himself. **Anything** to stop him thinking about those who were _**once**_ his dearest friends. The one thing he was afraid of was coming true, because of them. If they would just leave him alone then it would all be over, he could get back to his life as it was. Isolated. Quiet. Alone. Just the way he liked it. Now that **they** had welcomed themselves back into his life, he had something to fear, something to lose sleep over.

Those at Sakurasou were getting to know him more and more everyday.

Sure, they were already trying to get close to him and he let them because it was quite nice to have someone to talk to other than his AI, even if most of it was about work, serious stuff or Former Freeloader and her feelings and...stuff. All of that was okay, he wasn't too bothered by that. Yes, he didn't understand why they would want to get to know him so much, but it's not like he could read minds, so he just dealt with it. However, now they were actually going out of their way to make him trust them, to make him believe that they wouldn't desert him, to make him understand that they cared way too much about him.

They were most likely learning his darkest secrets and his past. His fears and his strengths. They were beginning to understand him...

...and that scared him more than anything.

"Are you ready to fight?!"

"Yeah!"

"Are you ready for the toughest battle ever?!"

"Yeah!"

"Are you ready for the blood, the gore, the sweat and the tears?!"

"N-No..."

Misaki-senpai was currently giving them an over the top prep talk about their 'battle plan', all of them had no choice but to memorise it because of the volume of her voice. They were ready to begin. Rita stood at the door and giggled at their reactions to her last remark about blood, gore, swear and tears. The 18 year old artist then pointed at her and stood up on a small wall at the front of the building, "Rittan! Are you ready for your day of plotting?!" She smiled, "Yes!" Everyone looked at them and smiled, Soratas smile was a little forced but he was still happy with how things were working out for everyone. Nobody was as sad as they were before and they all knew how to work this problem out because of Etsuko, he was still so grateful to her for her email. How could she go through something like that and still stay so strong? How could anyone go through that still stay strong at all? Before he could think about it any longer, he was dragged away by Shiina who was following the others who had already begun to make their way to school. She stared at him for a few minutes, without him noticing somehow. Then she spoke, "Sorata." He blinked and looked over at her, "Hm?" Looking at the floor, she sighed and then looked back up at him. "Are you okay?"

"Of course I am, just nervous about the 'attack'."

She nodded, "Me too."

He sighed sadly, "I just hope Akasaka begins to understand that we're refusing to leave him."

She nodded, "Me too."

His eyebrow raised, "I also hope that a bunch of candy rains from the sky."

She nodded, "Me too."

His eyebrow twitched, "A-Also, I hope that someone runs down the street with a large banner saying that rainbows and cupcakes are going to save the world from peril, along with Nyaboron."

She nodded, "Me too."

"Is that all you're going to say?!"

Her mouth turned up into a small smile, and once again he didn't have any idea what she was thinking. His cheeks warmed up slightly as they walked, she was so happy to see him acting like himself again. She was glad that he wasn't angry anymore, he was quite scary when he was angry, and she didn't like it when they didn't talk to each other. When the others looked back they were also happy to see them both acting normally around each other, Jin-san smirked at Soratas blush. "Oi, are you two gonna hurry up or what?" They nodded quickly and hurried after them.

As they got closer to the school, they could see many of the students making their way towards the large building ahead of them. Before they made their own way in, the oldest girl stood in front of them and punched the air. "Do you all remember what the plan is? What your role is in this battle?! DO YOU REMEMBER YOUR POSITIONS?!" They all jumped in shock at the increasing volume of her voice, "Y-YES!" She laughed loudly, the others following soon after.

Jin-san and Sorata were going to meet up at break to try and find the boys who were hurting Ryuunosuke, they weren't going to say anything, they were only going to identify them.

Shiina and Aoyama were going to ask around the school to see if they could find the school counsilor, they wanted to ask her what the best approach towards someone as stubborn and deadpanned as Ryuunosuke was.

Rita was going to try and spy on Ryuunosuke when he was out of his room as much as she could before the end of the day and she was going to check how long he would stay out for, and to check if it was a daily thing, she was going to do the same thing the next day.

Misaki-senpai was going to ask the 'Anti-Bullying' team if they had any ideas on how to help someone get out of bullying, she wasn't going to make it obvious that someone she knew was being bullied, but she was going to say it was a 'hypothetical situation'.

When they had all calmed down, Misaki-senpai's mood suddenly changed to one of humble hope and calm pleading. "Please do as much as you can, thank you for caring so much about it too." They all looked at her in confusion for a few seconds before she looked up at them, a small and sweet wavering smile on her face. "I said this before, but Dragon should be happy, he's been alone all his life, and I don't want that to last forever. I've known him for a long time and he means quite a lot to me, as he should to all of his friends and family. T-Thank you for caring."

None of them knew what had brought this mood on, but they didn't get a chance to ask her about it. As soon as the bell rang, she ran off in the direction of her homeroom classroom. Jin-san following her, his usual expression painted onto his face. He wished them luck, and then he was gone. Aoyama played with the hem of her skirt for a moment before sighing, "I really hope Kamiigusa-senpai is okay." After Shiina and Sorata nodded in agreement, they made their way into school, ready for the unnerving and busy day ahead of them. Even if it took the rest of the year, they made a pact to not give up on the programmer. They all knew that Misaki-senpai was right, he didn't deserve to be alone for so long, he deserved to be happy. So, they would make him happy.

Somehow...

Meanwhile, the not-so-well-known ninja, Rita Ainsworth, was sitting at the top of the stairs and watching to see if Ryuunosukes door opened at all. So far, she hadn't been noticed...but that was because he had never came out of his room. As she sat back on one of the steps, she felt the bottom of her back begin to ache. Rubbing it in pain, she sighed and rested her head on her elbows and her elbows on her knees. In all honesty, she didn't get any sleep at all that night because she was worrying about Ryuunosuke and thinking about the worst case scenarios. This scared her. She wasn't one to get too paranoid about anything, of course she worried alot, but when she did she actually got sleep. Glancing over at her not-so-secret crushes door, she let her head sink a bit lower into her hands as her eyes drooped sadly. That boy didn't even know how much she cared about him.

_'Please be okay...'_

She couldn't remember when it exactly happened, but she had fallen in love with the young computer genius soon after he lectured her about her honesty and her self ignorance about her dilemna with Shiina. At first, she was merely interested in him, what kind of person he was and she found him adorable or handsome. So, she thought that she would get to know him a bit better, but then she learned of his severe case of gynaphobia and she wanted to fix that too. Somewhere along the way though, she managed to fall in love with him. He always pushed her away, and even though sometimes it hurt, she knew he was just protecting himself from being hurt by others...especially women. She even found cute and funny at times, and it was then that decided that she loved a challenge, he was a challenge, therefore she loved him. Never did she think that she would ever lose sleep over someone who insulted her and told her she had a "diseased brain". Giggling quietly, she remembered the scene of when he had explained everything she didn't think about beforehand. She then remembered when she pushed him, calling him awful, even as she sat on those wooden stairs she felt terrible for calling him that. Well, the past was the past.

As she thought of the past, she thought of that night when she had learned about his horrible experience in middle school. The experience of bullying wouldn't soothe his paranoia of having friends or of trusting anybody again, it was so unfair! Why did he have to go through all of this?! She knew exactly what his reaction would be if he heard her thoughts, he would act all tough and say that it was his decision to not trust anybody or to let anyone in. Then if she told him what she thought about how unfair it was, he would tell her that life was life and that if any problems headed your way then you would have to fix them yourself. She knew him so well it freaked her out sometimes, but time and time again he continued to surprise her. Usually he was similar to Shiina, he would be emotionless, but the day before he had been angry with Sorata. She had certainly not been expecting that.

"Freeloader, what are you doing?"

So, she had been caught...

...so much for being a ninja.

Jumping in surprise, she looked down at the raven haired 16 year old below her. She then looked at her watch and reminded herself to write down the time he came out in her notebook. "Freeloader, are you going to answer me or not?" Blushing in embarrassment, she apologised and made her way down the stairs. Once she was in front of him, she could see the bags underneath his eyes, the way he walked as if he was dizzy. She felt her heart break every time she noticed those things, "R-Ryuunosuke, are you alright? You look tired." He shrugged and yawned, stretching an arm in the air as he made his way into the kitchen. "That's because I am, I was up doing work most of the night." Apparently, he wasn't being a very good liar that day, because she could see right through him. He hadn't been up **most of the night**, he had been up **all night**, the reason why was only something she could guess.

"I take it that you're hungry? Did you eat your dinner last night?"

He nodded slowly and suspiciously to all of her questions, "Why are you asking me so many questions, Freeloader?" She paused for a moment before giving him a strained and forced smile, her chest was in agony and she felt like she was going to be sick whenever she saw his face. The bruises were still there and his lip was just healing, his black eye hadn't been too bad so that had faded well. "I was just worried that you hadn't eaten." He hummed in response, obviously not believing her. They could read each other like childrens books, both understood each other well enough to see through their lies, fake smiles and their simulated emotions. Right now, she was simulating happiness and he was simulating being emotionless. Biting her lip, she looked at the floor. "Does..." He looked over at her after grabbing a tomato from the fridge, she clasped her hands together to stop them from shaking in anger and sorrow. "D-Does it hurt?" His facial expression stayed exactly the same, but he knew exactly what she was talking about. The small shine of terror in his eyes proved that. Nodding his head, he bit into his tomato. "Of course it does, pain doesn't just fade away within a night or two." She nodded quietly, reaching into the cupboards to find the first aid kit. He didn't notice this however, because he had already took his place at the kitchen table.

"Ryuunosuke, let me help you with that."

His gaze left his screen for a moment to look at the first aid kit, she had it in both arms, as if she was hugging the small box. He shook his head at first, "I'm fine, Freeloader."

"You're not."

Her reply left him mildly surprised, but it was for a mere second, he had been half expecting her to start crying again. "Don't come anywhere near me." She understood why, but she didn't care for his gynaphobia, right there and then, she only cared about his physical health. Her eyes met his and as blue clashed with red, they silently agreed to get his wounds treated as long as she didn't come too close to him. Pulling a chair up in front of him, she opened the box and ran her eyes over the contents, wondering which medical supplies she should use first. Then she saw some antiseptic wipes, so she took them out and began wiping the cut on his lip and then after the slight wince in pain, she dabbed it lightly. Not minding how long it took, she never got to be this close to him with permission usually. So, she would enjoy this moment while it lasted. He had his eyes squeezed shut whenever she went closer to inspect the injury she was taking care of, and she smiled a real, small smile at his usual instincts.

"A-Ah! That hurt!"

"Sorry, I'll be a little more gentle, okay?"

He huffed, "I-It's fine, these things will happen."

Her hand clenched into a fist, "What the hell do you mean by that?"

As he looked back at her, he saw that her features had darkened immensely. She was glaring a hole right through him, and the skin on the apples of her cheeks weren't the rosy colour they were before. Her expression reminded him of the night she finally made up with Shiina, it was extremely unnerving. "Bullying isn't something that happens to **everyone**, Ryuunosuke. Also, it's not your fault that this happened, those idiots hurt you." He didn't even know what his expression was at that point, because he was shocked but he couldn't feel his eyes widening or his mouth dropping open. All he felt was cold. Something he didn't usually feel around her. "F-Freeloader, you don't even know who it is. So, before you go making predictions, find out everything." She felt her happy act withering away.

"T-This shouldn't...be..."

His face remained blank, until he saw a tear fall from her face.

"This shouldn't be happening to you, it's not fair!"

Sighing heavily, he handed her a tissue from the large box of them on the table, then as she took it, he looked her in the eye. "Freeloader, life is life. It creates problems for you to solve by yourself, nobody is allowed to help you because these problems can sometimes make you stronger and smarter. Most of the time, it is you who is causing your own problems with what you say and do everyday. Nobody can just come charging in to save you, life simply does not work that way. My future is to have these problems, and to somehow overcome them in my own way, which is to stay away from them. Then they won't bother me or anyone else around me."

_'I was spot on.'_

"Y-You're wrong."

"How so?"

She sniffed, wiping her eyes with the tissue he gave her. "Your friends and family are allowed to help you, they can comfort you when you need it and they can stick up for you and stay with you when you're weak. One day you know that you'll have to go back to school, so you'll deal with these problems again. N-None of your friends want that to happen, so that's why it is easier to deal with your problems sooner. Life is life, yes, but life doesn't create problems. Mistakes create problems, so all humans have problems because we all make mistakes. Even if it is the smallest mistake, it still creates a small problem. Ryuunosuke, your future shouldn't be to have these problems, it should be to have friends to help you through the memories of these problems and you should be happy. Misaki-senpai told us that too. She said that you deserve to be happy, everyone deserves to be happy."

When she lifted her head to look up at him again, she could see the shock etched into his face at her answer. They both just stared at each other for a few moments until she began cleaning his injuries again, his face still one of shock. None of them said anything for a while, it wasn't until she got really close to his face. He jumped backwards in surprise and she gasped, then he told her to move backwards slightly. "Freeloader, that was way too close." She blinked and pushed her chair closer to his, then before he could get away, she placed one hand on the back of the chair on his free side. Then she kept her voice quiet, unable to speak any louder because of the emotions she would let out if she did. "Do you understand what I'm saying, Ryuunosuke?" He tried to lean as far away from her as he could and even tried to move her arm, but it was no use, he was trapped. After a moment, he nodded. "Well, I speak plain Japanese so I understand exactly what you said, I just don't believe it's correct."

"Well, it's a matter of opinion."

"I agree with that."

She kept her face straight, "However, I know for a fact that you believe one part of what I said." He glared at her slightly, "What would that be?"

"You know that you'll have to face them again someday, and you're afraid."

His glared sibsided and he instead wore a pokerfaced mask, "You say that as if it's wrong to be afraid." She shook her head, "It's not wrong at all to be afraid, but you shouldn't have to be afraid."

He sighed, "Well, I am, and there is nothing anybody can do about it."

She gripped the chair he was sitting on tighter, pushing her chair even closer to his, decreasing his chances of escaping. Looking at her in horror, the hikikomori pressed himself further into his seat to try and get away from her, but eventually he ran out of space to move. He gulped and watched as her face became only inches away from his own, it didn't seem as if she was going to be indecent at all, but she was a woman and she was steppping way too far into his comfort zone. "Get **away** from me!" Almost instantly, she replied, her voice still nearly silent to even his own ears. "Ryuunosuke, you're wrong." He blinked. "Everyone at Sakurasou is trying to help you, and you keep pushing us away. That's why you feel as if nothing can be done about it."

"Actually, I know not to waste effort on pointless things, so I'm trying to save you all the effort you need to live in this hell house."

She was quiet for a moment, "Yeah, sometimes things are meant to happen, nothing can sort them out. This isn't one of those times. You haven't done anything to them recently, or maybe you haven't done anything to them at all, so you don't deserve this. That's why we're trying to help you."

His face was still cautious, but it had mostly went back to it's usual expression. "Don't bother. It's not going to work, everything you do will be pointless."

"If you let it, it will work."

"Freeloader, trust me when I say that telling the teachers or trying to deal with this yourself will never work. Give up."

She gritted her teeth together, "No! We aren't giving up on you!"

"Don't yell-"

"Please, don't push us away! We don't want to lose you!"

He kept his cool, and glanced at the arm keeping him from running away. Much like her voice, it was shaking and trembling, most likely trying to keep all of her anger and sadness on the inside. Sighing, he looked down at the phone sitting in his hands. "It's not healthy to keep all of your emotions bottled up inside, Freeloader." She froze, "You do." He didn't pay any attention to how his heart had skipped a beat after she said that, but he did have an answer for her luckily. "It's not good to express them if you don't know how, and if you don't know why you're feeling them in the first place." Once he had finished, she knew exactly what he meant, and what he was trying to say. He didn't know how to deal with the feelings he was getting, and he wasn't sure why he was feeling them either. It wasn't that surprising since he was all about logic, and logic was probably telling him that he didn't have to or need to feel the way he did. So, he didn't express them at all. To keep himself from doing anything embarrassing or saying anything that would humiliate himself. He seemed to be fine with words though, so why didn't he just tell her how he felt?

"Tell me how you feel, in your own words."

He didn't even look up from his phone, "Uncomfortable."

She blinked and realised how close they really were, as she looked at the hand trapping him, she saw the small blush present on his face. After moving back slightly, she gave him a look which basically said, 'I'm-waiting'. He sighed and put his phone away, sitting up straight and crossing his arms. "I feel like I always do, the feeling is just stronger and less pleasant than it usually is." She looked at him, puzzled. "What do you mean?"

"I usually live a solitary life, feeling isolated and alone. Which was how I liked to live, but now I feel trapped, and there are some points where I feel numb from anything. This doesn't bother me, because it means that I can't be hurt, no matter how much **this **happens." To emphasize 'this', he pointed to his face and winced when he poked it by accident. She looked at him in shock, not expecting him to feel like that every single day and night. He didn't seem at all fazed, they stared at one another for a few minutes until he attempted to leave, wondering why he didn't do so earlier. Before he could do anything but stand though, she wrapped her arms around his shoulders, digging her head into his shoulder from behind. This surprised him, making him jump and consequently, making her hold him tighter. He told her countless times to let go of him, but she kept shaking her head and telling him that he never had to be alone. She was oblivious to the fact that he wanted to be alone so badly that he was willing to change his phone number and email, just so they wouldn't have any way of contacting him. However, that would just cause chaos with the companies he worked with on a daily basis. So, he didn't bother.

"F-Freeloader! What are you doing?!"

"You don't have to be alone!" She cried out to him desperately.

He froze up, and slowly, he felt his calm composure slip away. Of course he didn't want to tell her anything that could be counted as a weakness, but if she carried on the way she was going on, he would most likely end up saying something. "I don't think you understand what I'm trying to say." She hummed, telling him to go on. He did.

"You don't get that I want to be alone, then I can just live my life without any problems, because if I'm not around people I can't hurt them and feel regret. Also, they can't hurt me and so they can't feel regret. I can just do what humans were put on this planet to do, work and maybe make a small impact on humanity." He sighed and crossed his arms, still struggling to stay calm whilst still being in her grasp. "I obviously don't care for much in this world, so I don't want to hurt the things and people that I do care about, and I can't be sure that I won't hurt them because I can't tell the future. So my best chances of not hurting anyone or anything is just being alone."

They were both silent for a while until Rita processed everything that he said, she held him tighter and he gulped trying to wiggle out of her grip. However, she had other things planned. "Ryuunosuke, if that's how you feel then..." She trailed off and took a shakey breath before spinning him round and hugging him properly, "It's not that hard to make things alright, you don't have to regret hurting that person or thing forever." His eyes widened as she embraced him, but then he realised how small the space between their bodies was and he yelped in terror, struggling once again to escape. "F-Freeloader! What are you doing?!"

"Don't push us away."

He didn't even pay attention to what she was saying anymore, all he could think about was how close they were and how he should run away as quickly as he could. Trying to push her away by her shoulders, his face brightened in colour and in fear. His heart was pounding and he was afraid of her feeling it. His stomach was spinning and he was sure he had butterflies. To him, he was being pathetic, getting so flustered over a woman. He was unsure of how to react to every emotion he was feeling then. "Freeloader!"

"Ryuunosuke, promise that you won't push us away, and I'll let you go."

He stilled and her hands clutched the back of his shirt, just in case he tried to run away. His heart was still pounding and he could still feel his stomach doing backflips, what he was about to say didn't even mean to come out, he just...said it

"The Sakurasou residents are probably the only people I care about."

Her crystal blue eyes widened. _'H-He's not going to...!'_

"If you were listening to what I was saying before at all, you would know what that means."

_'He's going to separate himself from us!'_

Shaking her head, she felt his hands begin to push against her shoulders again. Little did he know, she wasn't going to let him go so easily. Even if it killed her mentally or physically, she wasn't going to leave him or let him leave her if she knew that deep inside, he didn't want to. Leaving a little bit of a gap between them, she looked at his face to see an unreadable expression had plastered itself to it. She wasn't going to let him go...

...leaning down slightly, the gap suddenly vanished.

Making their way down the hallway, Jin-san and Sorata searched high and low for the slightly familiar faces of the ones they thought were bullying Ryuunosuke. They were beginning to get concerned since break was nearly over and they still weren't able to find them, sitting down on a bench, they watched Misaki-senpai speaking with some older students through a window on the top floor. She was nodding and they were most likely telling her some tips, the both of them sighed and looked around the location where they were sitting closely. Nobody. Sorata groaned and leaned back in his seat, flinging one of his arms over his face to block out the sun. Smirking, Jin-san raised an eyebrow at the younger boy before sighing himself and searching through the large crowds of people. "Do you think we'll ever find them?" The chestnut haired boy groaned again and shrugged, this made the 19 year old chuckle and message Misaki-senpai.

_**Mitaka Jin- **__I'm sorry, but we can't find them._

_**Kamiigusa Misaki- **__Don't worry, Jin! Search for them tomorrow!_

He smiled gently.

_**Mitaka Jin- **__Of course._

_**Kamiigusa Misaki- **__Good! Now, we have a bit of information from the team! _

_**Mitaka Jin- **__Good work, Misaki._

_**Kamiigusa Misaki- **__Thank you, Jin! See you soon!_

_**Mitaka Jin- **__Bye now._

Then he put his phone away and told Sorata to start heading to his class, because break was finishing in 5 minutes. After they both agreed to head back to their classes, Sorata spotted them walking their way. "J-Jin-san! I found them!" Hissing at his friend, Sorata pointed at them quickly and Jin-san nodded in agreement. "Indeed you did!" Now all they had to do was find them again the next day so that they could identify them, and after they had been lost from their sight, they left for their respected classrooms.

"Have you got any ideas on how we can make these suggestions seem appealing to him?"

The counsiler nodded, "Since this person seems to be all about logic, use that to make them seem realistic and likeable."

Aoyama nodded and wrote that down in her notebook, Shiina started off into space before turning to the counsiler. "How do we help him trust us?" Both women turned to the blonde haired girl before Aoyama sighed sadly, the counsiler seemed to have a spark light up inside of her eyes. "Use logic to reason with him, explain how you're trustworthy and how much you care about him. Even if it is hidden within your reasons, I'm sure from what I've heard, that he is smart enough to realise what you said and what you meant." The brunette nodded and wrote that down also, letting her friend just wander off into her own daydream world.

"Thank you, do you think that we could somehow convince him to tell us what happened to make the situation like this and who it is?"

"Yes actually, I do."

She smiled, "Great! How do you suppose we do that?"

The counsiler tightened her red hair into it's hairband and chuckled, "Get him to realise that he can trust you, and that he doesn't have to deal with the memories or the people alone. Explain how it will benifit him."

"Mhm..." After writing it down, she nodded. "Okay, so how do you think we can support him and help him forget the mistake he must have made in the past to make them hate him so much? Or if they are just bullying him for no reason, then how should we make him see that he has done nothing wrong?"

"That's a tough one..."

It was silent. Then she clicked her fingers and grinned, "For the first one, tell him mistakes that you and your other friends have made and tell him that everyone makes mistakes so it's alright. If it is the second one then tell him how those people may have made mistakes, or they could have been or could be getting bullied, so they could just be doing it to make themselves feel strong."

"Thank you! You have really been a lot of help! Just one more question?"

The counsiler smiled, "Ask away."

"H-How do we get him to admit that he isn't okay?"

"You'll have to figure that out on your own, because that depends on the person."

Nodding, both teenagers made their way out of her office after thanking her and telling her the results of her help. Then they silently made their way out to get to class, Shiina was drawing a picture in the air as they walked. Aoyama read through her notes over and over again, to try and memorise them for when they acted out their plan of attack. They met up with Misaki-senpai on the way and they learned that some people got out of bullying by telling someone in the school or someone who they know can help, but she said that most of them already knew this so they weren't much help. The 16 year old girl showed her the notes she made and got a very tight hug of approval, "This is perfect, Nanamin!" Then the 18 year old skipped down the corridoor singing one line over and over again, the line they had all wished for.

"Dragon's gonna be happy again! Dragon's gonna be happy again!"

Hopefully, he would be.

** 8**

Slowly, their plan of attack was coming together. However...

...Sorata was slowly falling apart...

...Misaki-senpai hid herself with a smile...

...Jin-san stopped saying his true thoughts altogether...

...Shiina was slowly beginning to understand the darkness of this world...

...Aoyama was starting to lose hope...

...Rita was becoming more and more paranoid...

...and Ryuunosuke was slowly losing himself.

Slowly, their bonds were falling apart...even when they wanted to fix them. So...how could they fix something that wasn't there?

_**(Don't kill me for making up a name for Ryuunosukes friend from middle school, or my opinion on whether she was made to look like her or not, FLAMES NOT ALLOWED)**_

_**(ALSO, I am kind of...changing the time up? I guess? Well, Rita finds out from Maid-chan what happened to Ryuunosuke in middle school when she sent him an email that wouldn't go through, then she found out about it from her because apparently he had been ill and she was worried that he was alone, and since Maid-chan didn't know either, she was concerned for him. So she was told then. Sorry for the confusion. Also, sorry for doing it, I really didn't want to, but it wouldn't make sense if I didn't.)**_

**(Also, now they have a kiss before their last kiss! So they kiss three times! YAY! Sorry, but I just couldn't resist! ||| !)**

**Me: -UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-**

**Misaki-senpai: -UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-**

**Shiina: -UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-**

**Ryuunosuke: Please, kill me.**

**Jin-san: *hits his head off of the wall***

**Rita: *patting Ryuunosuke on the back* It's ok.**

**Ryuunosuke: Freeloader, if you actually cared about me, you would kill me.**

**Rita *laughs nervously* I-I don't want to kill you though.**

**Me: -UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-*sniffs* DO I SMELL CANON?!**

**Misaki-senpai: CANON?!**

**Shiina: -uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu-**

**Sorata: Does canon even have a smell?**

**Aoyama: *sniffs* I can't smell anything.**

**Me: I SMELL CANOOOON!**

**Ryuunosuke: W-What do you mean...?!**

**Rita: SHE MEANS US! *claps hands***

**Me: YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!**

**Ryuunosuke: NOO!**

**Shiina: -uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu-**


	8. Chapter 8- One down Six to go

**Me: Sup! TOLD YOU!**

**Sorata: Uh...told us what?**

**Me: TOLD YOU I WOULD MAKE A LONGER CHAPTER!**

**Ryuunosuke: Don't get loud and proud yet, Miko-san. You still have many chapters to go, and also, for that sentence to make sense you should have said, "write a longer chapter" not "make a longer chapter".**

**Me: So mean...but kawaii! /**

**Rita: *holds him protectively***

**Ryuunosuke: Oi! G-Get away from me!**

**Me: I-I'm not going to steal him from you, Rita! I ship you guys! *claps hands***

**Shiina: -uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu-**

**Sorata: S-Shiina?! **

**Aoyama: Why are you still doing that?!**

**Shiina: -uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu-**

**Rita: Really?! *grins***

**Me: YEAH!**

**Misaki-senpai: RITTAN AND DRAGON FOREVER!**

**Jin-san: *chuckles* I'm sure he would **_**definitely**_** agree with that...if he was awake.**

**Ryuunosuke: *unconscious***

**Rita: *laughs* SO CUTE!**

**Me: I KNOW RIGHT?! *fangirls***

**Aoyama: A-A-Akasaka-kun?! Are you okay?!**

**Sorata: A-Akasaka!**

**Shiina: -uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu-**

**Sorata: SHIINA!**

**Jin-san: My ears hurt.**

**Misaki-senpai: WHAT DID YOU SAY JIN?! I C-A-N-T H-E-A-R Y-O-U!**

**Jin-san: I SAID, M-Y E-A-R-S H-U-R-T!**

**Misaki-senpai: WHAAAT?!**

**Shiina: -uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu-**

**Sorata: SHIINA! *chases her***

**Aoyama: K-KANDA-KUN?! *chases him***

**Jin-san: I SAID-**

**Misaki-senpai: WHAAAAAAAAAT?!**

**Rita: *laughing hysterically***

**Ryuunosuke: *wakes up* Please kill me, Freeloader.**

**Rita: Nope! *hugs him tighter***

**Ryuunosuke: Ugh, thank you for putting me out of my misery. *faints again***

_**Kamiigusa Misaki- **__I'm not coming out until Dragon is okay! _

_**Kamiigusa Misaki- **__That's because I'll know that Sakurasou is okay!_

_**Sorata Kanda- **__Misaki, please don't stay in there!_

_**Kamiigusa Misaki- **__Is Dragon okay yet?_

_**Sorata Kanda- **__He will be soon! I promise!_

_**Kamiigusa Misaki- **__Then I'm staying here! _

_**Kamiigusa Misaki- **__I don't want Sakurasou to change back to how it was!_

_**Kamiigusa Misaki- **__I'm sorry._

**~Kamiigusa Misaki~ has logged out.**

_**2 DAYS, 3 HOURS AND 45 MINUTES EARLIER...**_

Eyes wide.

Heart pounding.

Stomach spinning.

Thoughts reeling.

It took a while for Ryuunosuke to process what exactly was happening, he just stood there for a few seconds before his gaze turned into one of absolute shock and terror. He stared at Ritas closed eyes for a few minutes before having an internal freakout, there was no way that he could collect his thoughts back together. There was no way he could withstand being this intimate with a woman or this close to a woman! He felt her arms tighten around his shoulders, and if he wasn't so dizzy he would have felt her teardrops run down her face and fall onto his cheeks. The blood rushed full force to his face and he felt seriously sick, a few moments later she pulled him as close as she possibly could and he couldn't take it anymore. He made a small noise of shock before she pulled away, her eyes opened slowly and he stared at her in astonishment. She was still quite close to him, he began seeing double and he pushed her away roughly, stumbling back and holding onto the chair for support. Gasping in surprise, she ran over to him and held him up by his shoulders.

"Are you okay?!"

His eyes opened to slits, the blush still vividly visible on his cheeks. "Don't..."

She shrunk under his poisonous gaze, but couldn't help feeling the small flutter her heart did when she saw his blushing face. He glared harder.

"...touch me." Then he fell to the floor, her going down straight after him. She knelt beside him and felt his face, it was boiling. Her eyes widened as she realised that it was most likely his gynaphobia that caused him to collapse. Somehow managing to carry him to his room, she lay him on his bed and pushed his computer chair next to it so she could sit with him. Slowly, her heart began to fill with regret and guilt. She didn't even consider the fact that he had gynaphobia...or that he had a cut lip. However, she felt even worse when she pressed a finger to her lips, remembering how nice it felt to be so close to him. Even in his unconcious state, she saw that his face was still blushing bright red. Holding the hand closest to her, she sighed sadly and rested her forehead on it. "Ryuunosuke, I'm sorry..."

"...but I can't let you go."

"Rittan! We're home!"

Silence.

Misaki-senpai blinked in surprise, "R-Rittan? Are you here?" Her heart suddenly gave a wild jolt of panic, this panic coursed through her entire body. "D-Dragon?! Are **you **here?!"

Running into his room, Misaki-senpai froze and smiled softly. The others soon followed her and had the same kind of reaction, Jin-san chuckled and placed a fleece blanket over the sleeping girl, making sure her head was securely resting on the boys bed. When they all left them to their resting, Aoyama thought of the main question none of them had mentioned. "Wait, why is Akasaka-kun in bed anyway?"

Sorata shrugged, "I just hope he's alright."

The others nodded and made their way to the kitchen to have dinner, they all sat around the table and exchanged information they had gotten that day. Every one of them had something to say that would help them with Ryuunosuke, they just needed Rita to tell them when the said programmer had exited his room. Sorata began to daydream and forget where he was, all he could think of was how stupid and pathetic every attempt at anything was. He failed nearly every attempt at game designing, and he couldn't even help his friend out of his problems! Why did he even bother to try? Of course he wanted Ryuunosuke to be happy, but he would probably just make things worse! His best didn't seem to be worth anything to anyone. So why did he give everything his all if it didn't matter? No matter how much work you put into something, it didn't work out unless your attempt was flawless. Everything you did was worthless and pointless unless you did it perfectly, no flaws or faults. The world was so un-

"Kanda-kun!"

Blinking his fury filled eyes in surprise, he saw that their dinner was burning and he yelped out in horror, turning the stove off and sighing. He couldn't even make dinner without burning it. "Kouhai-kun? Are you alright?" Nodding, he faked a chuckle and scratched the back of his head nervously. They all looked at him in concern, he sighed fondly. "I guess..." He smiled an unreal and sad smile, "I guess I'm just worried about Akasaka." Shiina narrowed her eyes and glared at her hands, not believing that stupid idiot for a moment. As they all agreed and began comforting him, telling them that they understood and that they could have something else for dinner, she clenched her fists tightly under the table.

Aoyama smiled gently, "As long as you're okay."

Jin-san nodded, "Don't worry too much or you'll burn more than just our food."

Misaki-senpai giggled, "Yeah, Kouhai-kun! Silly adolescent boy!"

Jin-san sighed, "At least he isn't angry or anything, just concerned."

Slamming her hands on the table, Shiina stood up, her bangs hiding her eyes and her mouth turned downwards into a frown. Everyone stared at her in surprise, Sorata having a mini heart attack, knowing that she didn't buy his act. Little did they know, they had woken Rita and Ryuunosuke up too. The two of them sat up listening to their conversation, Ritas hand still gripping the hikikomoris tightly.

Shiina stood there for a while before whispering one sentence, this sentence scared them all half to death however. "This world is slowly killing us all, creating a bunch of mindless liars."

Then she left, making her way up to her room, not even eating any dinner. After processing what she had just said, Aoyama ran after her, Rita not far behind. Meanwhile, Sorata stood there in shock as the two eldest residents looked at each other in horror. Before anyone could say anything however, Ryuunosuke stood by the doorway of the kitchen and placed a hand on his hip. "She isn't lying." Their eyes widened as they saw that his wounds had been aided to, but then they realised what exactly he had just said. Misaki-senpai stood up and shook her head, "What does she mean?!" He sighed and sat down at the table with them, they still couldn't believe that he was with them. "She is basically calling humans brainless with no chance of choosing our own paths in life without being judged, mocked or downgraded by others. I know exactly why she said it too. You know Kanda, it's not good to tell me not to lie when you do it yourself." The brown haired boy stood up with his hands balled into fists, but before he could do or say anything, Ryuunosuke folded his arms, staying perfectly still. He didn't even flinch. "Now is not the time to be getting violent, Kanda."

"Mashiro?!" Rita cried out as Aoyama ran down the stairs, the brunette rushed into the room telling them all that Shiina was refusing to come out of her room because she was sick of everyone lying so much. Once they all got to the blonde haired artists door, they saw Rita kneeling in front of it begging the girl to come back out. She then turned to see Sorata knocking on her door loudly, "Mashiro! Please come back out! We can stop Akasaka from lying, we can make him happy if you help us!" At this yell, the raven haired programmer looked rather surprised and displeased with the claim and he huffed, turning away from them all. From the inside they could hear small sniffles, then as he went on talking about how the hikikomori was with them right there, they gradually changed into sobs. Soon, he accidently started saying that her turning into Ryuunosuke and blocking them out wasn't going to help anything, this not only offended the 16 year old male but it made Shiina feel even more guilty. Aoyama soon stopped him however, "Kanda-kun! You're going too far!" He stopped there. How...How cruel could he be to more than one person in the space of a minute?

When he turned around, he saw Ryuunosukes head was lowered slightly and he wasn't looking at them. Shiina had also gone silent. Everyone had gone silent.

"A-Akasaka...I-I meant-"

"Save it, Kanda."

There was no anger or sadness in his voice, just dissapointment and guilt, which was more than unusual. Soon he turned back to face them, his expression the same as always and nothing seemed wrong. "Shiina is right, humans are nothing but stupid brainless creatures who can't tell the truth sincerely, even if it's the best decision." Then he made his way to her door and knocked, telling her that he was going to explain something difficult to her in words she might not understand. "Shiina, you'd better listen carefully. I'm not going to repeat myself." She hummed in confusion, her sobs beginning to go silent. "This world is definitely full of people who will lie with the most sincere look on their face, and they will most likely hurt you with that lie. It could hurt for only a while or it could break you, I have no doubt in my mind that that will happen." The others were about to stop him from talking, but he continued before they could. "However, giving up is the worst thing you can do."

He knocked again to make sure she was listening, "Shiina, you can't simply give up on the world because of a few liars. That is showing them an example of weakness, and if you show them that then they will not hesitate to follow you. Humans aren't only mindless liars, but they are sheep who will always follow the crowd. Giving up on them yourself or on yourself will make them give up on themselves or on you, and I'm afraid that if they do that then there is no way of helping them unless you somehow get them to see how strong this world and it's people can be. Yes, this world is full of mindless beings with nothing better to do than to mock each other and make each other feel worthless. I agree with you on that, but Shiina, those liars include yourself, your friends and your family."

Everyone stared at him in shock, he kept a straight face.

"The residents of Sakurasou. Why would you call those people your friends if you didn't like them for being themselves and for accepting who you are as a human? For example, Kanda and Ponytail have strong feelings of determination and will not let anyone they care about feel unhappy, and they are the ideal people to go to if you are feeling that way. That includes their kindness, their tendency to understand others and their ability to form such strong bonds so easily. They are some of the reasons I dare to call those loonatics **my **friends. Kamiigusa-senpai and Former Freeloader, they always have a positive attitude and will always be there when you need them most, this is why they are also ideal to go to when you are feeling disconsolate. They have an inclination to make you feel their joyful vibe without you even realising it, and they will also understand you and the problems you face whilst being willing to help you. Mitaka-senpai and Chihiro-sensei are some of the most sarcastic and lazy people I have ever come across, but they are trustworthy with serious situations and if you need help then they have the best advice you could ever get. They don't come off as the type to be perfect for advice, but no matter how cocky or sardonic they may seem you should probably trust them with your problems. Shiina, you are as stubborn as a mule and you don't tend to give up so easily, and I know that right now it may seem like you're giving up, but I know that you won't be able to. Even when something seems impossible to achieve, you always find a way to make it seem reachable or at least give everyone the illusion that you will succeed. These are just my opinions though, but I'm sure that you would agree with me."

His face was kept hidden with a pokerface, but on the inside he felt completely humiliated from saying such embarrassing and private things. So, he continued.

"As much as I hate to admit it, everyone here will lie. Everyone here is lying right now, even me. I don't mean that I am lying about what I'm saying right now, but sometimes people lie by how they act. I know for a fact that you caused such a ruckus because Kanda is lying to you about how he feels, but do you want him to give up on himself? It's exactly like I said before, if he gives up on himself then there is no way to get the Kanda everyone cares about back. I will agree with him on something, staying in your room and doing nothing is **not** going to change anything. Call me a hypacrite if you will, but it's pretty stupid to think that it will. Rethink everything that you're doing and saying right now, Shiina. I promise that you'll regret it later."

With that, he stepped away from the door which was slowly being unlocked and being opened. A teary eyed Shiina stood at the door and she watched as he nodded, Sorata then tried to speak to him but he just made his way back to his room silently. Not knowing the state he had left everyone in. Aoyama began bawling whilst Rita hugged her and Shiina, Misaki-senpai stood frozen as she wiped a few tears residing in the corners of her eyes. Sorata stared at Shiina as she was let go and pushed towards him, she sniffed and looked him in the eye. "Sorata."

"What is it?"

"Don't give up."

He blinked in surprise as she partly quoted Ryuunosuke, then he nodded and understood her words. They **weren't** going to give up, she **did **regret what she did and said before and she **wasn't **able to give up. Sometimes he was so correct about everything that it was scary, she sniffed again. "Ryuunosuke...is lying." Rita nodded, "Earlier today, he told me that he was afraid, but he won't admit that he is not okay." Jin-san chuckled and looked at them sadly, but he seemed to be in a strange sort of daze. "His speech was certainly moving, I believe that he knows something that we don't about each and every one of us, and that he is not okay."

"Dragon will be okay soon, right?"

Shiina nodded, "Yes Misaki, he will."

Sorata smiled sadly, "He saw right through me, I guess he knows why too."

Everyone looked at him sadly and decided to ask him about it later, but he just smiled. "Jin-san? What did you mean earlier when you said that he knew something about all of us?" The older male smirked and ruffled his hair so that it ended up messy, Sorata was obviously not very happy about this and made a mental note to take his revenge on him someday. "He actually said it himself." The others looked at him in confusion, he sighed and shook his head.

"We're all lying right now."

It had been 2 uneventful days and they were finally prepared to fight for their dear friend, Ryuunosuke.

Rita had found out that he came out of his room the day before at 1:30 because he thought nobody was in, but since they held their plan back another day they had enough time to find out what time he usually came out at 6:45pm. The time was 6:29 and the time was getting closer, they were all extremely nervous about it and didn't know if it would even work. However, they were all absolutely certain that he would at least hear them out and think of the logic and truth behind their words, even it he did take a while to figure it out. Aoyama, Jin-san and Misaki-senpai were in Soratas room ready to jump out and stop him from entering his own room. Sorata was in the kitchen, ready to play his part and say his lines when Ryuunosuke made his way to the kitchen. Shiina was with Rita in her room, waiting to stop Ryuunosuke from trying to hide upstairs. Chihiro-sensei even agreed to stand outside on the other side of the door, this was obviously to keep him from leaving the building altogether. Everything was set. Loud music was blasting from Misaki-senpai's room to try and make her seem like she was being herself, Soratas game was playing on full volume to make him seem like he was in his room and everyone but Sorata and Misaki-senpai made sure to say a few things every once in a while to make everything seem normal. They all knew that the programmer would realise something was up after a while, but they also knew that he wasn't dumb enough to jump to conculsions.

Sorata waited until 6:40, then he sent Jin-san a message telling him that it was clear to go and in that moment they all felt nervousness seep into their pores. Jin-san sent a message back telling him that he was ready also. Five minutes later, Ryuunosuke's door opened and showed a very tired looking 16 year old making his way to the kitchen where Sorata would be waiting for him. Of course, the programmer didn't look surprised in the least when he and the older male made eye contact. He simply grabbed some tomatoes from the fridge and began to put them on a plate, neither one of them said anything until Sorata blocked him from getting out. "Akasaka, please let us convince you to let us in."

"What on earth are you talking about, Kanda?"

Sorata's expression didn't change from a slightly desperate one, "You can trust us."

Akasaka looked slightly more irritated than before, he huffed and shoved Sorata out of his way before making his way back to his room but then stopping halfway. His facial expression became bitter as he realised the gist of what their plan was, "I know exactly what's going on here." Then he looked over at his door and crossed his arms, his voice was raised in volume slightly so the one who had occupied his room when he wasn't looking could hear him. "Whoever is in there, I know you're there so just come out."

Jin-san, Aoyama and Misaki-senpai made their way out of his room and looked at him hopefully at Sorata, but when they noticed that his expression was not a good one and that Ryuunosuke was acting scarier than normal they sighed. The raven haired boy looked up the stairs for a moment before looking back at the others, "I'm guessing that the second floor is out of order as well?"

Rita and Shiina made their way downstairs after hearing his claim, Shiina looked emotionless whilst Rita looked worried. For a moment everything was silent, until they noticed Ryuunosuke eyeing the door curiously and hopefully. Before he could try and make a break for it, Aoyama explained that Chihiro-sensei was out there and that he shouldn't bother. He hummed and glared at them, "Of course she is."

His voice became poisonous and bitter once again, "So what is this? An interrigation?"

Everyone was silent.

"How long have you been planning this? Is this supposed to change something?"

Sorata frowned, "We just want to help you."

"Tell me this, Kanda. How is ganging up on me and forcing questions onto me going to make me trust you at all?"

Everyone stared at him sadly, Misaki-senpai bit her lip in an attempt to keep away those pesky emotions. "We're not trying to force anything, Dragon. We just want you to say something, trust us when we tell that we'll do anything to help you."

"The thing is, Kamiigusa-senpai..." His features darkened, "...you can't do anything."

She bit her lip harder and began to taste blood, "D-Dragon that's not true-"

"Can you back that up?"

Rita watched as a drop of blood dripped down the 18 year old girls lips and chin, so did Sorata and slowly they all began to notice it. Ryuunosuke's defensive state weakened, he looked at her in surprise before sighing. Sorata placed a hand on her shoulder, "M-Misaki-senpai?" She shook her head before asking one question that had been plaguing her mind for a long time, "How long?"

Everyone then stared back at the black haired male and he looked at the floor with an uncomfortable expression set into his face, "About 5 months."

The others were horrified and as they processed the number of months he had confirmed, they realised how well he had hidden it and the many unintentional hints he had given them in that time. He talked about how Shiina could trust them and yet he didn't even trust them himself, did the words he said mean anything to him at all? Even Shiina understood what he meant, and that was saying something. His blood boiled for two reasons, one was because he realised that his friend had been getting hurt for a long time, the second reason was because he explained why Shiina could trust them and yet he didn't act like he trusted them at all. As he anger filled him up to the brim, he could hear Rita and Aoyama choking up beside him. Did he even know how much this was effecting them all? Soon, he couldn't control his anger. He stepped up to the boy and grabbed him by the front of his shirt, this didn't seem to faze him at all, but it worried the others. They told him to calm down and not to get violent.

"Why didn't you tell us?! You've hidden it for so long, and you haven't even given us an intentional hint! Do you know how much it hurts to know that you don't trust us **that** much?!"

Hearing all of the noise, Chihiro-sensei made her way back inside. Both her and Jin-san agreed that if anything got violent, they would separate them. Right now, they needed to get their feelings out to each other.

"You're smart! You should be able to figure out that it hurts more than any weapon could! So, why do you keep torturing us like this?! Is it payback for not noticing it sooner?! Do you want us to suffer like you are?! Why didn't you tell us?!"

Ryuunosuke kept his voice calm, but it was dark and an angry aura began to surround him. "Are you being serious? Do you think that I **wanted **you to know about it? Why do you think I hid it in the first place? I didn't think it would bother you so much that you would compare it to **torture**. Why didn't I tell you? You would act irrationally and only make things worse."

Rita bit her lip, "That's not all, is it?"

A very small and bitter smile formed on his face, "You can see right through me. It's also because I don't trust any of you. Don't take it personally, I don't trust anyone."

Sorata gripped his shirt tighter, "Why don't you trust us?! You told Shiina yesterday all of the reasons that you cared about us, and all of the reasons that she could trust us! Stop being such a hypacrite!"

Ryuunosuke didn't get angry, he didn't even look angry anymore. "I know for a fact that I am a hypacrite. However, so are you."

"At least act like you care a little bit! This is hurting us, Akasaka-"

"How the hell do you think I feel?!"

Everyone jumped in surprise when they heard him yell at him, he was never one to get angry with someone and actually show it. After a few minutes, he took a deep breath and shoved Sorata away from him. Luckily, Jin-san was there to catch him. Ryuunosuke made his way to the door and before he left, he muttered darkly under his breath. "If you want to help me..."

"...**stay away **from me."

Then he was gone.

Everyone was silent...

...until Misaki-senpai rushed up to her room and refused to come out.

When asked why she refused to leave her room, she sobbed about something like wanting 'Dragon' to go back to normal and how she missed the old 'Dragon'. Sorata quickly took out his phone and began to email her.

_**Sorata Kanda- **__Misaki, please don't distance yourself from us!_

_**Kamiigusa Misaki- **__I'm not coming out until Dragon is okay! _

_**Kamiigusa Misaki- **__That's because I'll know that Sakurasou is okay!_

_**Sorata Kanda- **__Misaki, please don't stay in there!_

_**Kamiigusa Misaki- **__Is Dragon okay yet?_

_**Sorata Kanda- **__He will be soon! I promise!_

_**Kamiigusa Misaki- **__Then I'm staying here! _

_**Kamiigusa Misaki- **__I don't want Sakurasou to change back to how it was!_

_**Kamiigusa Misaki- **__I'm sorry._

**~Kamiigusa Misaki~ has logged out.**

One down.

Six to go.

**Me: I'm pretty proud of this!**

**Sorata: Why am I always so violent? *sweatdrop***

**Aoyama: *shrugs and reads BL manga***

**Me: BL?! *huggles Aoyama***

**Aoyama: W-W-W-W-W-W-What are you doing?!**

**Me: Yaoi is love. Yaoi is life.**

**Aoyama: WHAT?!**

**Ryuunosuke: W-W-W-W-W-W-W-W-W-**

**Rita: I KISSED HIM?! YAY!**

**Ryuunosuke: W-W-W-WHY DID YOU DO THAT?!**

**Me: Well...because I ship you two like hell?**

**Ryuunosuke: WHY?!**

**Me: DON'T QUESTION A FANGIRL!**

**Misaki-senpai: It's seriously not a good idea to do that, Dragon.**

**Jin-san: I've done that before. *shudders* I still haven't gotten rid of that scar...**

**Ryuunosuke: WHAT?!**

**Me: MY SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIP IS REEEEEAAAAAAAAL!**

**Ryuunosuke: NO!**

**Rita: YES!**

**Ryuunosuke: *points at her* YOU SHUT UP!**

**Rita: BUT IT'S REAL BAKA!**

**Ryuunosuke: NO IT'S NOT!**

**Me: *cries* WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!**

**Everyone: RYUUNOSUKE, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!**


End file.
